06ICAL  StN 


BX5133.L52  S46  1880  v.2 
Liddon,  Henry  Pany,  1829-1890. 
Sermons  preached  before  the  University  oi 
Oxford  :  second  series,  1868=1879  / 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2015 


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©Qorfes  tip  ttt  same  author. 


Second  Edition.    Crown  2>vo.  $s. 
SOME  ELEMENTS  OF  RELIGION.  Lent  Lectures. 

CONTENTS. 

The  Idea  of  Religion— God,  the  Object  of  Religion— The  Subject  of  Religion, 
the  Soul— The  Obstacle  to  Religion,  Sin— Prayer,  the  Characteristic  Action 
of  Religion — The  Mediator,  the  Guarantee  of  Religious  Life. 

Sixth  Edition,  Revised.    Crown  Zvo.    5  J1. 

SERMONS  PREACHED  BEFORE  THE 
UNIVERSITY  OF  OXFORD.    First  Series,  1859-1868. 

CONTENTS. 

God  and  the  Soul — The  Law  of  Progress — The  Honour  of  Humanity — The 
Freedom  of  the  Spirit — Immortality — Humility  and  Action — The  Conflict 
of  Faith  with  undue  exaltation  of  Intellect — Lessons  of  the  Holy  Manger — 
The  Divine  Victim — The  Risen  Life — Our  Lord's  Ascension  the  Church's 
Gain — Faith  in  a  Holy  Ghost — The  Divine  Indwelling  a  Motive  to  Holiness. 

Eighth  Edition.    Crown  8vo.  $s. 
THE  DIVINITY  OF  OUR  LORD  AND  SAVIOUR 

JESUS  CHRIST:  Eight  Lectures  preached  before  the  University 
of  Oxford,  in  the  Year  1866,  on  the  Foundation  of  the  late  Rev.  John 
Bampton,  M.A.,  Canon  of  Salisbury. 

CONTENTS. 

I.  — The  Question  before  us — Enduring  Interest  of  the  Question  thus  raised 

even  for  Non-Believers — Three  Answers  to  it  are  possible — The  Catholic 
Answer — Position  taken  in  these  Lectures  stated. 

II.  — Anticipations  of  Christ's  Divinity  in  the  Old  Testament — Foreshado wings 

— Predictions  and  Announcements. 

III.  — Our  Lord's  Work  in  the  World  a  Witness  to  His  Divinity— Our  Lord's 

"  Plan  "  (caution  as  to  the  use  of  the  expression)— Success  of  Our  Lord's 
"  Plan  " — How  to  account  for  the  Success  of  Our  Lord's  "  Plan." 

IV.  — Our  Lord's  Divinity  as  Witnessed  by  His  Consciousness — First  Stage  of 

His  Teaching  chiefly  Ethical — Second  Stage  :  Increasing  Self-assertion — 
Christ's  Self-assertion  viewed  in  its  bearing  upon  His  Human  Character. 

V.  — The  Doctrine  of  Christ's  Divinity  in  the  Writings  of  S.  John — Ancient  and 

Modern  Objections  to  its  Claims — It  is  a  Life  of  the  Eternal  Word  made 
Flesh — It  is  in  Doctrinal  and  Moral  Unison  with  the  Epistles  of  S.  John 
and  the  Apocalypse — Its  Christology  is  in  Essential  Unison  with  that  of  the 
Synophists — It  incurs  the  objection  that  a  God-Man  is  Philosophically 
Incredible — S.  John's  Writings  oppose  an  insurmountable  barrier  to  the 
Theory  of  a  Deification  by  Enthusiasm. 

VI.  — Our  Lord's  Divinity  as  'taught  by  S.  James,  S.  Peter,  and  S.  Paul— S. 
John's  Christology  not  an  Intellectual  Idiosyncrasy — The  Apostles  present 
One  Doctrine  under  various  forms — S.  James's,  S.  Peter's,  S.  Jude's,  and 
S.  Paul's  Epistles — Contrasts  between  the  Apostles  do  but  enhance  the 
force  of  their  common  Faith  in  a  Divine  Christ. 

VII.  — -The  Homoousion— The  Ante-Xicene  Church  adored  Christ— The  Ante- 
Nicene  Church  spoke  of  Christ  as  Divine— The  Homoousion. 

VIII.  — Some  Consequences  of  the  Doctrine  of  our  Lord's  Divinity — Conserva- 
tive Force  of  the  Doctrine— Illuminative  Force  of  the  Doctrine— Ethical 
Fruitfulness  of  the  Doctrine— Conclusion. 


EtoirtGtotuj:  Horrtion,  2Djcfort),  ant)  eiambritiee 


WORKS  BY  THE  REV.  DR.  LIDDON— Continued. 


Second  Edition.    &vo.    is.  6d. 
WALTER    KERR    HAMILTON,   BISHOP  OF 

SALISBURY.    A  Sketch. 

Crown  Zvo.    ^s.  6d. 
REPORT  OF  PROCEEDINGS  AT   THE  RE- 
UNION CONFERENCE,  held  at  Bonn,  September  1874.    With  a 
Preface  by  H.  P.  Liddon. 

Crown  Zvo.  6d. 
REPORT   OF   PROCEEDINGS  AT   THE  RE- 
UNION CONFERENCE  OF  1875,  with  Preface  by  H.  P.  Liddon. 

[London  :  B.  M.  Pickering.] 

Third  Edition.    With  Portrait.    Large  Type.    i^mo.    is.  6d. 
A  MANUAL  FOR  THE  SICK;  with  other  Devotions. 
By  Lancelot  Andrewes,  D.D.,  sometime  Lord  Bishop  of  Winchester. 


Phcebe  in  London  :  A  Sermon 
preached  at  the  Parish  Church  of 
Kensington  on  the  Second  Sunday 
after  Trinity,  June  10,  1877,  for  the 
Parochial  Mission  Women  Associa- 
tion.   8vo.  is. 

Bishop  Wilberforce  :  A  Sermon 
preached  at  the  Parish  Church  of 
Graffham,  Sussex,  on  its  Reopening 
after  Restoration,  Nov.  2,  1875. 
8vo.  is. 

Love  and  Knowledge  :  A  Sermon 
preached  in  King's  College  Chapel, 
at  its  Inauguration  on  the  Twenty- 
second  Sunday  after  Trinity,  1873. 
8vo.  is. 

The  One  Salvation  :  A  Sermon 
preached  in  St.  Paul's  Cathedral  on 
the  Fifth  Sunday  after  Easter,  1873, 
at  the  Anniversary  Service  of  the 
Bishop  of  London's  Fund.  8vo. 
is. 

The  Moral  Groundwork  of 
Clerical  Training:  A  Sermon 
preached  at  the  Anniversary  Festival 
of  Cuddesden  College  on  Tuesday, 
June  10,  1873.    8vo.  is. 

St.  Paul's  and  London  :  A  Ser- 
mon preached  at  St.  Paul's  Cathe- 
dral on  the  Fourth  Sunday  after 
Epiphany,  1871.    8vo.  6d. 

The  Day  of  Work  :  A  Sermon 
preached  in  St.  Paul's  Cathedral  on 
Sunday,  August  6,  1871,  being  the 
Morrow  of  the  Funeral  of  the  very 
Rev.  H.  L.  Mansel,  D.D.,  Dean  of 
St.  Paul's.    8vo.  is. 


The    Purchas    Judgment  :  A 

Letter  of  Acknowledgment  to  the 
Right  Hon.  Sir  J.  U.  Coleridge, 
one  of  the  Lords  of  Her  Majesty's 
Most  Honourable  Privy  Council  ; 
together  with  a  Letter  to  the  Writer 
by  the  Rev.  E.  B.  Pusey,  D.D., 
Eastertide,  1871.    8vo.  is. 

The    Purchas    Judgment  :  A 

Letter  to  the  Right  Hon.  and  Right 
Rev.  the  Lord  Bishop  of  London 
by  the  two  Senior  Canons  of  St. 
Paul's  Cathedral,  June  1,  1871. 
8vo.  is. 

Pauperism   and   the    Love  of 

God  :  A  Sermon  preached  at  St. 
Paul's,  Knightsbridge,  on  the 
Second  Sunday  after  Trinity,  1870, 
for  the  Convalescent  Hospital  at 
Ascot.    8vo.  is. 

The  Model  of  our  New  Life  : 

A  Sermon  preached  at  the  Special 
Evening  Service  in  St.  Paul's  Cathe- 
dral on  Easter  Day,  1870.   8vo.  3d. 

The  Work  and  Prospects  of 
Theological  Colleges  :  A  Ser- 
mon preached  at  the  Cuddesden 
Anniversary  Festival,  on  June  10, 
1868.    8vo.  is. 

The  Moral  Value  of  a  Mission 
from  Christ:  A  Sermon  preached 
in  Christ  Church  Cathedral,  at  the 
General  Ordination  of  the  Lord 
Bishop  of  Oxford  on  the  Fourth 
Sunday  in  Advent,  December  22, 
1867.    8vo.  is. 


Rtometorw:  Hormon,  SDjcforU,  anti  CambrttjQe 


SERMONS 

PREACHED  BEFORE 

C&e  (Htnticrsttg  of  ©rforD 

(SECOND  SERIES) 
1868—1880 


RIVINGTONS 

JUltDOtt  Waterloo  Place 

SD^forH  Magdalen  Street 

CamfcrtOgc  Trinity  Street 


[c-442] 


SERMONS 

PREACHED  BEFORE 

e  ^ntbersutg  of  ©xfortr 


SECOND  SERIES 
1868—1880 


H.    P.   LIDDON,  D.D. 

CANON  RESIDENTIARY  OF  ST.  PAUL'S,  AND  IRELAND  PROFESSOR 


SECOND  EDITION 


RIVINGTONS 
WATERLOO  PLACE,  LONDON 
SDjcforD  ann  Cambridge 

MDCCCLXXX 


"  Per  voler  esser  certo 
Di  quella  fede  eke  vince  ogni  errore." 

— Inf.  iv.  47. 


TO 

JOHN  ARCHIBALD  SHAW  STEWART,  ESQ.  M.A. 

BURSAR  OF  KEBLE  COLLEGE, 

IN  WHOSE  LIFE  OF  PRACTICAL  BENEVOLENCE 
HIS  OXFORD  CONTEMPORARIES  HAVE  BEEN  WONT  TO  TRACE 
THE  POWER  AND  BEAUTY  . 
OF  A  CLEAR  AND  CONSISTENT  FAITH. 


atJticrttsement 


Of  the  Sermons  contained  in  this  volume  nine1  were 
preached  by  the  appointment  of  successive  Yice-Chan- 
cellors,  and  the  remainder  in  the  author's  turns  as  Select 
Preacher. 

Two  of  the  Sermons 2  have  been  published  singly,  and 
they  differ  somewhat  in  complexion  from  the  rest. 
Recent  discussions  in  Convocation  have  seemed  to  make 
it  a  duty  to  reprint  that  on  "  The  Life  of  Faith  and  the 
Athanasian  Creed." 3  And  the  Sermon  on  "  Christ  and 
Human  Law"4  will  possess  an  interest,  at  least  for  a 
great  many  persons,  distinct  in  degree  and  kind  from 
that  which  any  others  in  the  volume  could  command. 
It  was  preached  at  the  suggestion  of  Dr.  Hamilton,  the 
late  Bishop  of  Salisbury,  who  was  at  the  time  lying  on 
what  proved  to  be  his  deathbed,  and  in  whose  hopes  and 
fears  respecting  subjects  that  lay  nearest  to  his  heart  the 
writer  was  permitted  to  share.  The  opinions  which  are 
embodied  in  the  Sermon  are  substantially  those  of  this 
revered  and  lamented  prelate,  while  the  author  is  alone 
responsible  for  any  faults  of  treatment  or  expression. 

1  Sermons  n.,  v.,  vi.,  xi.,  xn.,  xm.,  xiv.,  xv.,  xvi. 

2  Sermons  vn. ,  xti.  3  Sermon  vn.  4  Sermon  xvi. 


3  Amen  Court,  E.C.. 

Michaelmas  1879. 


Preface  to  tfje  ©econo  <ZEtutton. 

In  this  Edition  a  Sermon1  which  has  been  preached 
since  the  publication  of  the  first  edition  is  inserted  at  the 
request  of  some  persons  who  heard  it. 


Christ  Church, 

Whitsuntide  1880. 


Sermon  xvn. 


CONTENTS. 


SERMON  L 

PREJUDICE  AND  EXPERIENCE. 
St.  John  i.  46. 

PAGE 

Nathanael  said  unto  him,  Can  there  any  good  thing  come  oat  of 
Nazareth  ?   Philip  saith  unto  him,  Come  and  see  1 

^rcacfjfU  at  St.  fHarg's  on  tfje  Xinetantfj  Sunoap  after  JZZrinits,  Oct.  23,  18Z0. 


SERMON  II 

HUMILITY  AND  TRUTH. 
1  Cor.  iv.  7. 

Who  maketh  thee  to  differ  from  another  ?  And  what  hast  thou  that 
thou  hast  not  received  ?  Now,  if  thou  didst  receive  it,  why  dost  thou 
glory,  as  if  thou  hadst  not  received  it?  18 

^reacfcetJ  at  St.  fHarp'g  on  ©uinquagrstma  Sunoap,  Jtfr.  19,  ISJl. 


SERMON  III. 

IMPORT  OF  FAITH  IN  A  CREATOR. 
Gen.  i.  1. 

In  the  beginnina  God  created  the  heaven  and  the  earth      ...  38 
$3reacf)20  at  St.  fflarg's  on  Septuagcsitna  Sunoap,  fieb.  5, 1871. 


X 


Contents. 


SERMON  IV. 
WORTH  OF  FAITH  IN  A  LIFE  TO  COME. 
Rev.  vii.  9,  10. 

PAGE 

/  beheld,  and  lo,  a  great  multitude,  which  no  man  could  number,  of 
all  nations,  and  kindreds,  and  people,  and  tongues,  stood  before  the 
throne,  and  before  the  Lamb,  clothed  with  white  robes,  and  palms  in 
their  hands;  and  cried  with  a  loud  voice,  saying,  Salvation  to  our 
God  Which  sitteth  upon  the  throne,  and  unto  the  Lamb  .  .  55 
^reacfieo  at  St.  fHarg'g  on  trje  2Tbjentg=first  Sunoag  after  Krtnttg,  Nob.  10, 1878. 

SERMON  Y. 
INFLUENCES  OF  THE  HOLY  SPIRIT. 
St.  John  iii.  8. 

The  icind  blowcth  where  it  listeth,  and  thou  hearest  the  sound  thereof 
but  canst  not  tell  whence  it  cometh,  and  whither  it  goeth        .       .  78 
"  iPreacfjeU  at  St.  fHarg's  on  E2Ef)ttsun  Sag,  3une  4, 1876. 

SERMON  VI. 
GROWTH  IN  THE  APPREHENSION  OF  TRUTH. 
Heb.  vi.  t. 

Therefore  leaving  the  principles  of  the  doctrine  of  Christ,  let  us  go  on 

unto  perfection   98 

^reacrjeo  at  St.  fflarg's  on  trje  jfirst  Sunbag  after  Brittits  W  Sunbag),  June  15, 1879. 

SERMON  VII. 
THE  LIFE  OF  FAITH  AND  THE  ATHAN ASIAN  CREED. 
St.  John  iii.  36. 

He  that  believcth  on  the  Son  hath  everlasting  life;  and  he  that 
believeth  not  the  Son  shall  not  see  life  ;  but  the  wrath  of  God  abideth 
on  him       .       ,       ,       .       .       .       ,       ,       m       t  .119 

$reacf)eb  at  St.  fHarg'g  on  trje  Efocntg^firat  Sunbag  after  GFrtmtg,  ©ct.  20, 1872. 


Contents. 


XI 


SERMON"  VIII. 
CHRIST'S  SERVICE  AND  PUBLIC  OPINION. 
Gal.  l  io. 

PAGE 

If  I  yet  pleased  men,  I  should  not  be  a  servant  of  Christ  .       .  .144 
^reacrjeo  at  St.  iSarg'y  on  tfje  JEfoentg^fiftrj  Suntiag  after  STrtnitg,  Noo.  18,  X8ZZ. 

SEEM  ON  IX. 

CHRIST  IN  THE  STORM. 

St.  Mark  iv.  38. 

And  He  was  in  the  hinder  part  of  the  ship,  asleep  upon  a  pillow ; 
and  they  awake  Him,  and  say  unto  Him,  Master,  carest  Thou  not 
that  we  perish?  §  165 

^reacijeo  at  St.  USarg's  on  t$e  £b3entg=tf)tro  Sunfcag  after  Crinitg,  Nob.  12, 1871. 


SEEMON  X. 
SACERDOTALISM. 
2  Cor.  v.  18. 

But  all  things  are  of  God,  Who  hath  reconciled  us  unto  Himself, 
through  Jesus  Christ,  and  hath  given  unto  us  the  ministry  of  The 
Reconciliation :  to  wit,  that  God  was  in  Christ,  reconciling  the  world 
unto  Himself,  not  imputing  their  trespasses  unto  them ;  and  hath 
given  unto  us  the  word  of  The  Reconciliation        .       .       .       .  183 

$reari)eo  at  St.  fflarg's  on  Seiasesttna  Sunoag,  San.  31, 1875. 


SERMON  XI. 
THE  PROPHECY  OF  THE  MAGNIFICAT. 
St.  Luke  i.  51-53. 

He  hath  shewed  strength  with  His  arm :  He  hath  scattered  the  proud 
in  the  imagination  of  their  hearts.  He  hath  put  down  the  mighty 
from  their  seats,  and  exalted  them  of  low  degree.  He  hath  filled 
the  hungry  with  good  things;  and  the  rich  He  hath  sent  empty 

away   203 

^reacrjea  at  St.  Parg's  on  tfjc  Etaentgsfiftt  Sunoag  after  airtmtg,  Noo.  22,  1874. 


xii 


Contents. 


SERMON  XII. 

THE  FALL  OF  JERICHO. 
Heb.  xi.  30. 

TAGE 

By  faith  the  ivalls  of  Jericho  fell  down,  after  they  were  compassed 
about  seven  days   .  222 

iPreacfjco  at  St.  fHarg's  on  Srtnttg  Sunoag,  3une  8, 1873  (3&amsoen  Sermon). 


SERMON  XIII. 
THE  COURAGE  OF  FAITH. 
Rom.  i.  16. 

/  am  not  ashamed  of  the  Gospel  of  Christ ;  for  it  is  the  power  of  God 

unto  salvation  to  every  one  that  believeth  242 

$reacbeti  at  St.  flarg's  on  5Trmitg  Sunoag,  fHag  25, 1877  (ftamscen  Sermon). 


SERMON  XIV. 

THE  CURSE  ON  MEROZ. 
Judges  v.  23. 

Curse  ye  Meroz,  said  the  angel  of  the  Lord,  curse  ye  bitterly  the 
inhabitants  thereof;  because  they  came  not  to  the  help  of  the  Lord, 
to  the  help  of  the  Lord  against  the  mighty     .       .       .       .  .264 

^reacrjeo  at  St.  JSarg's  on  trje  Secono  Sunoag  after  STrinttg  (act  Sunoag),  June  9, 1872. 

SERMON  XV. 

THE  GOSPEL  AND  THE  POOR. 
St.  Luke  iv.  18. 

The  Spirit  of  the  Lord  is  upon  Me,  because  He  hath  anointed  Me  to 

preach  the  Gospel  to  the  poor  '    .  2S1 

$reac?)eo  at  St.  fflarg's  on  OTrjitsun  JBag,  3une  9, 1878. 


Contents. 


xiii 


SERMON  XVI. 

CHRIST  AND  HUMAN  LAW. 
St.  John  xix.  10,  n. 

PAGE 

Then  saith  Pilate  unto  Him,  SpeaJcest  Thou  not  unto  me  ?  Tcnowest 
Thou  not  that  I  have  power  to  crucify  Thee,  and  have  power  to 
release  Thee  ?  Jesus  answered,  Thou  couldcst  have  no  power  at  all 
against  Me,  except  it  were  given  thee  from  above  :  therefore  he  tJiat 
delivered  Me  unto  thee  hath  the  greater  sin  ....  300 
33«adjeti  at  St.  j/flarn/s  on  tfjc  Erjiro  Sunoan.  in  Hent,  jfcb.  28, 1869  (asstje  Sermon). 

SERMON  XVII. 
THE  CURE  OF  LOW  SPIRITS. 
Ps.  xliii.  5. 

Why  art  thou  cast  down,  0  my  soul  ?  and  why  art  thou  disquieted 
within  me?  hope  in  God:  for  I  shall  yet  praise  Him,  Who  is  the 
health  of  my  countenance,  and  my  God  .....  332 

33wacrjeo  at  St.  fHarg's  on  Sciagesitna  Sunoag,  jFetr.  I,  1880. 


SERMON  L 

PREJUDICE  AND  EXPERIENCE. 
St.  John  i.  46. 

Xathanael  said  unto  him,  Can  there  any  good  thing  come  out  of  Nazareth  ? 
Philip  saith  vnto  him,  Come  and  see. 

THE  main  purpose  of  the  fourth  Evangelist  was  to  show, 
by  a  careful  selection  from  our  Lord's  words  and 
works,  what  was  the  full  and  momentous  truth  respecting 
His  Divine  Person.1  But  subordinate  to  this  object  there 
were  others ;  and  among  these  it  was  of  importance  to  dis- 
pose of  an  objection,  which  would  have  been  urged  often 
and  earnestly  at  the  close  of  the  Apostolical  age.  If  the 
miracles  of  Christ  were  such  as  the  earlier  Evangelists  had 
described,  how  was  it,  men  asked,  that  they  did  not  produce 
a  more  general  conviction  of  His  Divine  Mission  among 
His  countrymen  and  contemporaries  ?  The  answer  which 
the  fourth  Gospel  gives  to  this  question  is  in  effect,  that 
the  conduct  and  temper  of  the  Jews  furnishes  a  sufficient 
explanation  of  their  insensibility  to  the  real  value  of  the 
miracles  of  Christ.  The  picture  of  the  Jews  which  is  pre- 
sented by  the  fourth  Evangelist  offers  some  undeniable 
points  of  contrast  to  that  which  meets  us  in  the  first  three 
Gospels.  The  first  three  Gospels  describe  several  indivi- 
dual Jews  with  marked  lights  and  shadows  of  personal 
character :  the  fourth  Gospel  refers  to  them  as  a  class  with 

1  St.  John  xx.  31. 
A 


2 


Prejudice  and  Experience.  [Serm. 


an  average  habit  of  thought  and  feeling.  There  is  no 
inconsistency  between  these  representations  ;  and  here,  as 
elsewhere,  St.  John  says  enough  to  serve  his  immediate 
purpose,  without  at  all  implying  that  it  is  exhaustive,  or 
more  than  a  selection  from  the  rich  materials  before 
him.  "  The  Jews,"  as  he  describes  them,  are  morally  and 
spiritually,  rather  than  intellectually,  deficient  and  dull; 
they  are  at  no  loss  for  ingeniously  captious  arguments,  but 
they  are  deaf  to  the  persuasive  eloquence  of  spiritual 
beauty.  Face  to  face  with  the  Light  of  the  World,  Who,  as 
the  Evangelist  is  persuaded,  has  only  to  be  contemplated 
steadily  by  the  true  spirit's  eye  in  order  to  be  forthwith 
adored,  the  Jews  arm  themselves  with  the  weapons  of  a  petty 
dialectic,  which  betrays  a  warp  and  narrowness  in  the  moral 
sympathies,  even  more  than  any  intellectual  wrongheaded- 
ness  or  religious  ignorance.  Thus  the  dialogues  of  the 
Gospel  are  an  illustration  of  the  thesis  that  "the  Light 
shineth  in  darkness,  and  the  darkness  comprehended  it 
not  j"1  they  show  us  how  it  was  that  the  Incarnate  Word 
came  unto  the  people  which  was,  in  virtue  of  its  past 
history,  especially  His  own,  and  which,  although  His  own, 
did  not  receive  Him.2 

One  great  misery  of  this  Jewish  temper  was  that  it  kept 
men  at  a  distance  from  our  Lord.  Physically,  indeed,  the 
Jews  were  close  to  Him;  but  spiritually  they  lived  in 
another  sphere  of  being.  As  they  heard  His  language  with 
the  outward  ear,  and  then  set  themselves  to  confute  it; 
so  they  beheld  His  works  with  the  bodily  eye,  but  saw  in 
them  nothing  higher  than  a  skill  which  eluded  detection. 
The  reason  was,  according  to  the  Evangelist,  because  both 
the  words  and  works  could  only  be  placed  in  their  true  per- 
spective by  souls  who  were  already  in  some  sort  of  willing 
contact,  however  tentative  and  provisional,  with  the  Person 
of  the  Speaker  and  Worker.    St.  John,  indeed,  does  not 

1  St.  John  i.  5.  2  St.  Johni.  11. 


I.]  Prejudice  and  Experience.  3 

depreciate  the  evidential  force  of  the  miracles  to  which  our 
Lord  Himself  appealed  :l  each  of  the  seven  miracles  which 
the  Evangelist  describes  is  in  some  way  pre-eminent,  and 
the  greatest  of  all  the  recorded  miracles  of  Christ  is 
described  by  St.  John  alone.2  But  the  tendency  of  his 
narrative  is  to  discourage  exaggerated  expectations  as  to 
the  power  of  miracles  by  themselves  to  create  faith;  he 
does  not  allow  us  to  suppose  that  they  will  enforce  a  con- 
viction by  sheer  intellectual  constraint  in  the  case  of  those 
who  are  morally  and  spiritually  indisposed  to  embrace  it. 
Even  the  most  startling  miracle  was  not  meant  to  stand 
unaided  and  alone :  in  the  design  of  Providence  it  was  to 
co-operate  with  the  attractive  power  of  a  Faultless  Character, 
appealing  persuasively  to  the  moral  sense.  When  the  moral 
sense  was  paralysed,  a  miracle  naturally  appeared  to  the 
understanding  only  in  the  light  of  an  unusual  or  unwelcome 
occurrence,  for  which  it  was  presumed  some  explanation, 
natural  or  artificial,  must  be  forthcoming.  A  miracle  becomes  I 
an  intellectual  challenge  which  irritates,  where  it  is  not  I 
the  accompaniment  of  a  moral  influence  which  wins.  To  be 
in  intimate  contact  with  the  Person  of  Christ,  the  Word 
Incarnate,  manifesting  forth  His  Glory ;  to  gaze  upon  Him, 
not  fitfully,  but  constantly,  earnestly,  penetratingly ;  to  learn 
at  length  to  see  in  His  words  and  works  the  harmonious 
product  of  His  superhuman  Personality,  a  perpetual  radia- 
tion from  the  Life  of  the  A 11  -Perfect  Being :  this  was  what 
St.  John  desired  for  his  countrymen,  as  being  what  he  had 
experienced  himself.  But  it  was  precisely  this  for  which 
the  leading  moral  features  of  their  peculiar  temper  so 
seriously  indisposed  the  Jews :  and  the  result  is  exhibited 
in  St.  John's  narrative.  He  leads  us  on  step  by  step  to 
a  double  climax,  in  which  the  evidence  for  Christ's 
claims  and  His  rejection  by  the  Jews  alike  reach  the 

1  St.  John  x.  38.    St  Matt.  xi.  4,  5.    Of.  Heb.  ii.  4. 
1  St.  John  xi 


4 


Prejudice  and  Experience. 


Serm. 


highest  point  conceivable.  On  the  one  hand,  Lazarus  is 
raised  from  the  dead :  on  the  other,  the  Son  of  God  is 
crucified. 

If  the  fourth  Gospel  thus  sets  itself  to  explain  why  it 
was  that  the  J ews  did  not  receive  the  Light  of  the  World 
manifested  among  them,  it  naturally  completes  this  ex- 
planation by  showing,  in  the  way  of  contrast,  how  it  was 
that  the  disciples  did  receive  Him.  The  disciples,  too,  had 
had  their  difficulties  in  the  way  of  faith  :  they  came  of  the 
same  stock  as  their  unbelieving  contemporaries;  they 
breathed  the  same  intellectual  and  originally  the  same 
moral  atmosphere ;  they  were  fed  by  the  same  truths  and 
warped  by  the  same  prejudices.  But  they  placed  them- 
selves morally  and  spiritually  in  contact  with  the  Person  of 
Christ,  the  Incarnate  Word,  and  from  Him  there  streamed 
forth  upon  their  souls  a  power  which  made  them  His.  This 
is  the  Evangelist's  inner  sense  when  he  tells  us,  as  if  inci- 
dentally, that  the  two  disciples  of  the  Baptist  came  and 
saw  where  Jesus  dwelt ;  1  or  that  Andrew  brings  his 
own  brother  Simon  to  Jesus;2  or  that  St.  Philip  meets 
Nathanael's  a  priori  objection  to  the  prophetic  or  spiritual 
associations  of  Nazareth  by  the  simple  invitation,  "  Come 
and  see."  3 

£ 

Nathanael  comes  before  our  Lord  as  the  victim  and 
exponent  of  a  popular  prejudice.  It  was  one  of  several 
irrational  prejudices  which  went  to  make  up  the  dull  or 
passionate  hostility  shown  towards  Jesus  Christ  by  the 
Jewish  opinion  of  the  time.  When  Philip,  in  his  eager 
enthusiasm,  announces  that  in  Jesus  from  Nazareth  was 
to  be  found  the  fulfilment  of  all  the  choicest  hopes  with 
which  the  Mosaic  and  prophetical  writings  had  inspired 
the  noblest  souls  in  Israel,  Nathanael  bluntly  asks  whether 
any  good  thing  can  come  out  of  Nazareth. 

1  St.  John  i.  39.  2  Ibid.  42.  3  Ibid.  46. 


I-J 


Prejudice  a?id  Experience. 


5 


Why  should  no  good  come  out  of  Nazareth  ?  What  was 
the  nature  of  this  presumption  against  Nazareth  ?  Did 
it  rest  on  some  political  or  social  feeling,  the  exact  ground 
of  which  may  have  been  guessed  at  by  later  tradition,  but 
the  true  reason  of  which  is  lost  ?  Or  was  its  motive  theo- 
cratic ?  Does  "  good "  in  Nathanael's  mouth  mean  that 
specific  good  which  in  the  judgment  of  every  religious 
Israelite  lay  in  the  fulfilment  of  the  Messianic  promise  ? 
Is  it  his  meaning  that  if  the  new  Prophet  announced 
Himself  as  from  Nazareth,  the  case  against  Him  must  be 
decisive ;  because  while  Nazareth  is  not  so  much  as  named 
in  the  Jewish  Scriptures,  every  Israelite  knows  that  the 
Messianic  King  is  to  be  born  in  Bethlehem,  little  indeed 
among  the  cities  of  Judah,  yet  "  not  the  least,"  considering 
its  theocratic  rank,  and  the  extraordinary  honour  that 
awaited  it  ? 1  Or  is  Nathanael  swayed  by  some  popular 
saying,  which  altogether  warps  his  judgment ;  and  which, 
whatever  may  have  been  its  historical  origin,  has  placed 
the  Galilean  village  under  a  religious  ban,  so  that  any  dis- 
position to  expect  from  it  a  message  of  truth  or  an  effort 
of  virtue  at  once  incurs  rebuke  or  even  ridicule  ? 

Decide  this  question  as  we  may,  there  can  be  no  doubt 
about  the  strength  of  Nathanael's  prejudice  against  Nazareth. 
Nor,  let  us  remark,  was  he,  as  yet,  morally  the  worse  for 
entertaining  it.  Himself  a  native  of  Galilee,  he  had 
heard  Nazareth  depreciated  all  his  life,  and  he  simply 
gave  expression  to  a  conviction  which  it  had  not  occurred 
to  him  to  question.  He  held  it,  together  with  his  other 
opinions  and  beliefs,  with  honest  tenacity.  If  the  intel- 
lectual furniture  of  our  several  minds  could  be  examined 
and  catalogued,  it  would  probably  be  found  that  we  are 
most,  if  not  all  of  us,  to  a  certain  extent  in  Nathanael's 
condition:  we  have  received  from  our  elders  an  assort- 
ment of  prepossessions  which  combine  with  the  highest  of 

1  Micah  v.  2.    St.  Matt.  ii.  5,  6. 


6 


Prejudice  and  Experience.  [Serm. 


truths  the  least  tenable  of  assumptions.  Most  of  us  who 
think  at  all  are  engaged  throughout  our  lives  in  revising 
at  least  some  portion  of  this  hereditary  mental  stock. 
Some  men,  it  may  be  feared,  only  succeed  in  ridding  them- 
selves of  priceless  truths,  while  they  cling  on  uninquir- 
ingly  to  stupid  superstitions  ;  as  was  his  case  who  had  no 
faith  in  the  truth  of  Christ's  Eesurrection,  but  would  on  no 
account  forget  to  turn  his  money  in  his  pocket  at  the  sight 
of  the  new  moon. 

Now,  so  long  as  an  untenable  prejudice  lies  dormant  in 
the  mind,  and  its  holder  has  not  been  called  upon  to  con- 
sider its  worth,  he  is  not  necessarily  the  worse  for  holding  it. 
Nathanael's  prejudice  against  Nazareth  was  quite  without 
foundation.  Yet  we  know  on  the  highest  authority  that  he 
was  an  Israelite  indeed,  in  whom  was  no  guile. 1  Although 
the  victim  of  a  serious  misapprehension,  he  had  not  trifled 
with  his  sense  of  truth,  and  the  consequence  was  that  his 
mistake  did  not  permanently  injure  him.  Nathanael  is  the 
type  of  that  simple  goodness  in  union  with  narrow  pre- 
judice which  is  sometimes  in  our  day  branded  as  "  Philis- 
tinism." Brethren,  it  is  well  to  be  large-minded ;  but  there 
are  worse  things  in  the  moral  world  than  "  Philistinism." 
It  is  better  to  be  cramped  and  narrowed  by  unexamined 
prejudice,  than  to  hold  no  one  conviction  with  the  earnest- 
ness which  would  prompt  you  to  make  sacrifices  for  it. 
It  is  better  to  be  making  the  most  of  some  onesided  or 
imperfect  creed,  which  is  a  local  or  temporary  compound 
of  truth  and  error,  than  to  pass  through  life  with  a  feeble 
interest  in  all  religions ;  an  interest  so  comprehensive 
and  so  diluted  as  to  involve  conviction  of  the  truth  of 
none : — 

"  Sitting  apart,  holding  no  form  of  creed, 
But  contemplating  all." 

Nathanael  was  wrong  about  Nazareth ;  but  he  was  near 

1  St.  John  i.  47. 


Prejudice  and  Experience. 


7 


to  the  Truth  and  Wisdom  with  which,  throughout  all  time, 
Xazareth  is  associated. 

And  yet,  although  a  man  may  hold  to  a  misapprehension 
with  such  entire  honesty  of  purpose  that  his  moral  nature 
is  quite  intact,  the  misapprehension  is  undoubtedly  a  mis- 
fortune. It  is  some  disaster  for  any  mind  to  hold  any  one 
thing  for  truth  that  is  untrue,  however  insignificant  it  be,  or 
however  honestly  it  be  held.  It  is  a  greater  disaster  when 
the  false  prejudice  bars  the  way  to  some  truth  behind  it, 
which,  but  for  it,  would  find  an  entrance  to  the  soul ;  and 
the  greatness  of  the  disaster  will  in  this  case  be  measured 
by  the  importance  of  the  excluded  truth.  There  are  false 
prejudices  which  shut  out  no  truth,  and  which  lead  to  no 
error.  If  it  is  better  to  be  without  them,  they  may  be 
tolerated  without  much  difficulty.  But  a  prejudice  which 
keeps  us  from  knowing  a  good  man,  or  from  recognising 
a  great  truth,  is  to  be  seriously  deplored.  What  would 
Xathanael  be  thinking  of  his  prejudice  against  Xazareth 
now,  if  it  had  really  kept  him  back  from  discipleship  to 
the  Lord  of  Life  ? 

In  the  sub-apostolic  age,  there  was  a  persuasion  abroad  in 
heathen  society  that  the  Christians  devoured  little  children. 
This  misapprehension  was  doubtless  traceable  to  the  current 
language  employed  by  the  first  Christians  on  the  subject 
of  the  Eucharist ;  their  true  meaning  would  never  have 
occurred  to  a  pagan  who  chanced  to  hear  them.  Yet  how 
complete  a  barrier,  not  to  say  against  conversion,  but  against 
any  contact  whatever  with  the  " exitiabilis  superstitio" 
must  have  been  erected  by  a  real  belief  that  Christians 
were  guilty  of  so  inhuman  a  crime  !  How  many  souls  may 
not  such  a  prepossession  have  kept  back,  only  too  effec- 
tually, from  all  that  Christ's  Gospel  had  to  give  them  ! 

Observe  St.  Philip's  way  of  dealing  with  Xathanael. 
Philip  might  have  argued,  either  that  the  prejudice  against 
Xazareth  rested  on  no  sure  foundation,  or  that,  whatever 


8 


Prejudice  and  Experience.  [Serm. 


its  truth,  Jesus  belonged  to  Nazareth  in  so  limited  and 
temporary  a  sense,  that  the  reputation  of  the  place  did 
not  touch  Him  or  His  claim  to  fulfil  the  Messianic  pro- 
phecies. This,  perhaps,  would  have  been  our  modern  plan 
of  meeting  the  objection.  Philip  takes  a  shorter  course. 
His  object  is  not  to  put  himself  arguLaentatively  in  the 
right  by  vindicating  Nazareth,  or  by  showing  that  it  does 
not  stand  in  his  way :  he  only  wants  to  bring  Nathanael 
into  the  Presence,  ay,  close  to  the  Person  of  the  Son  pf 
God.  He  is  convinced  that  if  Nathanael  can  only  see 
Him,  speak  with  Him,  breathe  the  atmosphere  that  sur- 
rounds Him,  feel  the  Divine  majesty  and  tenderness  which 
had  already  won  himself,  the  prejudice  against  Nazareth 
will  simply  be  forgotten.  "  Philip  saith  unto  him,  Come 
and  see."  The  objection  might  be  discussed  at  another 
time ;  but  the  immediate  value  of  the  objection  might  be 
settled  at  once  by  the  simple  process  of  contact  with  Him 
to  Whose  claims  it  was  apparently  fatal. 

II. 

St.  Philip's  invitation  has,  obviously  enough,  a  very 
wide  range  of  applicability.  There  is  no  department  of  the 
kingdom  of  truth  whose  representatives  may  not  echo  the 
"Come  and  see"  of  the  Apostle.  Scientific,  historical, 
moral,  as  well  as  theological  truth,  may  and  must  proclaim, 
in  such  terms  as  these,  their  anxiety  to  be  approached 
and  examined.  Nor  would  such  applications  of  the  text 
involve  an  overstraining  of  it ;  since,  properly  speaking,  all 
truth  is  in  one  sense  religious  truth.  It  leads  ultimately 
up  to  God;  it  is  what  it  is  by  His  Will  and  authority. 
As  all  true  virtue,  wherever  found,  is  a  ray  of  the  life  of 
the  All-Holy ;  so  all  solid  knowledge,  all  really  accurate 
thought,  descends  from  the  Eternal  Eeason,  and  ought, 
when  we  apprehend  it,  to  guide  us  upwards  to  Him.  This 


I.]  Prejudice  and  Experience.  9 


was  a  consideration  upon  which  the  teachers  of  the  great 
Christian  School  of  Alexandria  were  wont  to  dwell.  By 
means  of  it  they  bridged  over  chasms  between  much  of  what 
was  true  in  the  Platonic  philosophy,  representing  as  it  did 
the  most  active  speculation  of  the  time,  and  the  Revelation 
of  God  in  Christ.  All  truth  is  indeed  the  inheritance  of  the 
Church  of  Christ,  although  she  may  be  long  in  entering 
upon  some  portions  of  her  patrimony,  or  may  even,  here  or 
there,  through  the  mistakes  of  those  who  act  on  her  behalf, 
depreciate  and  for  a  while  disown  her  share  in  it.  "  All 
things  are  yours,"  said  an  Apostle  to  his  children  in  the 
faith ; 1  and  Ins  words  are  not  less  true  of  the  treasures  of 
knowledge  than  of  the  treasures  of  Grace. 

To  create  the  sense  of  this — the  unity  and  the  magni- 
ficence of  truth — is  one  purpose  of  an  University.  The 
Universities  of  Europe  were  creations  of  the  Christian 
Church.  They  sprang  from  her  effort  to  realize  the 
unity  of  all  districts  of  existing  human  knowledge,  as  in 
harmony  with  and  under  the  presidency  of  the  knowledge 
of  God  revealed  in  Christ.  Faith  in  the  real  and  ultimately 
discoverable  harmony  of  all  truth  is  the  faith  upon  which 
this  University  was  built ;  and  as  a  result  of  this  faith, 
it  must  aim  at  encouraging  a  spirit  of  generous  sympathy 
between  the  representatives  of  and  workers  in  the  various 
departments  of  knowledge  which  it  has  brought  together 
and  fosters. 

The  intellectual  value  of  such  a  spirit  as  this  need  not  be 
insisted  on.  It  is  the  crowning  grace  of  a  liberal  education. 
AVhen  the  fields  of  human  knowledge  are  so  various  and  so 
vast  as  is  the  case  in  our  day,  the  utmost  that  can  be  done  by 
single  minds  not  of  encyclopedic  range,  is  to  master  one 
subject  or  branch  of  a  subject  as  thoroughly  as  possible,  and 
to  rest  content  with  knowing  that  others  are  working  in 
regions  where  neither  time  nor  strength  will  permit  us  to 

1  I  Cor.  iii.  21. 


IO 


Prejudice  and  Experience. 


[Serm. 


enter,  but  where  we  can  at  least  follow  them  with  interest 
and  respect.  To  know  at  least  the  outline  of  what  may  be 
known;  to  know  accurately  the  real  frontier  of  his  own 
narrow  knowledge ; — this  is  more  distinctively  the  attribute 
of  an  educated  man,  than  the  accumulation  of  any  number 
of  facts  and  figures.  It  carries  with  it  the  power  of 
estimating  what  is  known  philosophically;  of  placing  it 
in  something  like  its  true  relation  to  conterminous  fields 
of  knowledge ;  of  anticipating,  at  least  tentatively  and 
partially,  that  day  of  cloudless  light,  when  all  truth,  the 
highest  and  the  lowest,  will  be  seen  in  its  absolute  unity. 

Nor  does  the  moral  and  religious  value  of  this  spirit  rank 
below  the  intellectual.  In  a  place  like  this,  the  good  to  be 
gained  by  intercourse  with  character  is  at  least  as  great  as 
the  good  to  be  gained  by  the  appropriation  and  mastery  of 
thought ;  the  vastness  and  variety  of  the  moral  world 
around  us,  if  we  have  eyes  to  see  it,  is  not  inferior  to  that 
of  the  world  of  knowledge.  Each  man  whom  we  know  has 
probably  at  least  some  one  moral  beauty  in  nature  or  from 
grace ;  while  different  studies  beget  their  characteristic 
moral  excellences  and  deficiencies:  so  that  as  classes  of 
students,  no  less  than  as  individuals,  we  have  much  to  learn 
from  each  other.  One  study  demands  intellectual  integrity, 
another  reverence,  another  patience,  another  nerve  and 
determination ;  and  when  mixing  with  their  different  repre- 
sentatives, we  may  learn,  if  not  all  the  truth  they  severally 
have  to  teach,  at  least  the  specific  moral  excellence  which 
is  developed  in  attaining  it. 

If  this  be  the  intellectual  and  moral  value  of  University 
life,  it  is  too  precious  to  be  imperilled  by  the  temptation 
to  think  that  no  truth  or  goodness  is  to  be  looked  for  at 
the  hands  of  certain  men,  or  in  the  pursuit  of  certain 
studies.  Have  we  in  Oxford  altogether  escaped  this 
temptation  ?  Have  those,  whom  a  strong  and  lofty  faith 
should  have  rendered  generous,  always  and  altogether 


I.]  Prejudice  and  Experience.  1 1 

succeeded  in  escaping  it  ?  Have  we  never  pointed  to 
the  Nazareth  of  the  physical  sciences ;  of  some  one  of 
them,  it  may  be,  which  a  vagrant  materialist  has  for 
awhile  dishonoured,  but  which  cannot  reasonably  or 
justly  be  so  credited  with  his  error,  as  to  warrant  us  in 
supposing  that  no  good  thing  can  come  out  of  the 
laboratories  in  which  it  is  pursued  ?  Have  we  never 
banned  the  Xazareth  of  criticism ;  too  readily  supposing 
that,  because  some  teachers  of  Heidelberg  or  Tubingen  have 
mistaken  wild  imagination  for  history  in  their  treatment  of 
the  Holy  Gospels,  no  good  thing  can  be  expected  to  come 
from  any  critical  school  ?  The  loyalty  to  Eevelation  which 
animates  our  prejudice  does  not  justify  it ;  the  great 
Alexandrians  who  baptized  the  Platonic  philosophy,  would 
have  bidden  us  of  to-day  welcome,  and  christen  the  critical 
and  scientific  spirit.  We  might  be  assured  that,  whatever 
its  exaggerations,  we  have  much  to  learn  from  it,  and  that 
in  the  Ions:  run  it  must  do  the  work  of  Him  AVhom  we 

o 

adore. 

Men  who  hold  a  large  and  exacting  creed  with  earnest- 
ness, have  no  doubt,  from  their  very  sincerity,  to  guard 
against  a  tendency  to  narrow  judgments.  And  it  is  easy  for 
others  who  have  no  positive  faith  whatever  to  enlarge  on 
deficiencies,  the  temptation  to  which,  unhappily  for  them- 
selves, they  have  never  known  ;  just  as  the  famishing  poor 
of  our  great  cities  are  naturally  and  keenly  alive  to  abuses 
of  property  on  the  part  of  the  wealthy  classes.  But  is 
there  then  no  liability  to  narrow  prejudices  in  any  sections 
of  the  "  liberal "  world  ?  Is  it  never  thought  or  whispered 
that  from  the  Xazareth  of  Orthodoxy,  with  its  cherished 
traditions  and  s}mrpathies,  with  its  passionate  attachment 
to  the  past  of  Christendom,  with  its  undeniable  adherence 
to  a  fixed  body  of  truths  as  stamped  with  Divine  and 
therefore  unerring  authority,  no  good  can  be  expected  to 
come ;  no  real  additions  to  our  spiritual  and  intellectual 


Prejudice  and  Experience.  [Serm, 


wealth,  no  new  development  or  enrichment  of  our  moral 
energies  ?  What  is  the  Nazareth  of  so  termed  "  sacerdo- 
talism "  but  the  endeavour  to  treat  as  serious  our  Saviour's 
promises  of  authorization  and  support  to  those  weak 
human  agencies  by  which  from  age  to  age  He  asserts  His 
power  and  His  love  among  the  sons  of  men  ?  Yet  is  not 
this  Nazareth  too  often  banned,  as  if  nothing  higher  than 
some  unworthy  and  selfish  effort  to  increase  the  wealth  or 
power  of  a  clerical  order  could  be  expected  to  come  out 
of  it  ?  And  do  you  suppose,  my  liberal  brethren,  that  in 
surrendering  your  imaginations  to  such  prejudices  as  these 
you  lose  nothing ;  that  you  debar  yourselves  from  access 
to  no  wide  fields  of  truth,  which  else  were  open  to  you ;  that 
you  cut  yourselves  off  from  the  enjoyment  of  no  moral 
beauties,  which  you  too  most  assuredly  would  know  how 
to  honour  and  to  profit  by,  not  less  than  we  ? 

Certainly  the  temptation  to  hold  that  no  good  thing 
can  come  out  of  this  or  that  department  of  human 
interest  and  work,  be  it  social,  political,  philosophical, 
or  religious,  is  not  extinct.  But  in  the  name  of  what- 
ever truth  there  may  be,  and  some  truth  there  must  be, 
in  each  and  all  of  them,  the  University,  as  a  kindly 
mother,  bids  us  "  come  and  see."  Here  we  have  no 
excuse  for  intellectual  or  moral  isolation:  interests  and 
states  of  mind,  which  elsewhere  are  unavoidably  found 
apart,  are  brought  into  close  juxtaposition  in  Oxford,  as 
a  necessary  result  of  our  work  and  circumstances.  Here, 
if  anywhere,  it  might  be  hoped  that  explanations  might 
be  made,  and  reconciliations  effected,  which  elsewhere  are 
improbable :  between  love  of  the  past  and  aspirations  for 
the  future;  between  the  energies  of  philosophical  and 
scientific  enterprise  and  the  claims  of  faith ;  between  the 
intellectual  hardness  of  the  critical  spirit,  and  the  tender 
enthusiasms  of  devotion  to  our  Living  Lord.  But  if  this 
is  to  be,  we  must  be  sufficiently  generous,  let  me  rather  say 


I.]  Prejudice  and  Experience,  1 3 


sufficiently  truthful,  to  conquer  prejudice.  Some  of  us 
might  wish  that  there  were  no  such  tasks  as  these  before 
us ;  but  we  have  no  more  the  making  of  the  speculative 
than  of  the  material  world.  Our  duty  is  to  make  the  best 
of  what  God  has  given  us. 

Nor  let  me  be  misunderstood.  This  willingness  to  test 
and  to  unlearn  a  prejudice  is  a  very  distinct  thing  from 
the  surrender  of  a  fundamental  conviction.  A  faith  which 
is  sufficiently  strong  and  philosophical  to  lay  surrounding 
thought  and  knowledge  more  or  less  under  contributions, 
is  a  very  different  thing  from  a  feeble  eclecticism,  which 
goes  smiling  about  the  world, paying  unmerited  compliments 
to  incompatible  theories,  and  ending  by  the  discovery  that 
it  is  itself  able  to  rely  upon  no  one  truth  as  absolutely 
certain.  It  is  neither  charity  to  man  nor  loyalty  to  God  to 
ignore  differences  of  conviction  which  are  really  serious, 
perhaps  vital ;  or  to  attempt  to  bury  them  beneath  words 
or  acts  which  imply  their  insignificance.  We  should  pay 
dearly  for  our  contact  with  the  many  sides  of  knowledge 
exhibited  here,  with  the  many  gifted  minds  that  are  at 
work  on  it,  with  the  varying  opinions  that  are  to  be 
found  respecting  some  of  the  gravest  problems,  if  we  should 
weaken  or  lose  our  hold  on  those  priceless  truths  which 
cannot  be  forfeited  with  moral  and  spiritual  impunity.  To 
learn  that  goodness,  even  the  Highest  and  the  Best,  could 
come  from  Nazareth,  was,  in  Kathanael's  case,  not  to  forfeit 
a  faith,  but  to  invigorate  and  confirm  it. 


III. 

"  Come  and  see."  From  St.  Philip's  day  until  now, 
this  invitation  has  been  addressed  to  mankind  by  the 
Church  of  Christ.  It  is  her  first  step  in  meeting  our  diffi- 
culties; it  is  a  condition  of  the  cure  she  would  administer 


1 4  Prejudice  and  Experience.  [Serm. 

to  moral  as  well  as  to  mental  pain.  Christianity  is  not  to 
be  really  understood,  when  looked  at  only  in  the  intellectual 
landscape,  as  if  it  were  but  one  out  of  the  many  elements 
which  make  up  the  thought  and  life  of  the  human  race. 
Kind  distance  may  lend  enchantment  to  a  picturesque  false- 
hood; it  can  be  no  gain  to  truth.  If  the  Gospel  had  really 
issued  from  some  mystic  or  scholastic  Nazareth,  and  could,  in 
the  last  analysis,  be  accounted  for  as  a  natural  product  of 
the  mind  and  heart  of  man,  St.  Philip's  invitation  would  be 
an  imprudence  in  the  mouth  of  its  preachers.  As  it  is,  the 
Church  of  Christ  pleads  ever  with  humanity :  "  Give  your- 
selves a  chance.  Come  and  see.  Do  not  only  talk  about 
the  Kingdom  and  the  Power  of  the  Son  of  God;  understand 
that  He  is  alive ;  acquaint  yourselves  with  Him.  Ask  that 
you  may  see  Him,  not  merely  with  the  eye  of  the  natural 
intelligence,  but  with  the  eye  of  the  illuminated  spirit.  Do 
not  waste  life  in  framing  theories  of  the  beautiful,  but  come, 
as  did  JSTathanael,  into  the  presence  of  Christ.  Mark  the 
story  of  His  earthly  life  in  the  Gospels,  and  reflect  that  what 
He  was  then  He  is  now.  Speak  to  Him  in  prayer  as  to  an 
all-powerful  Friend  Who  hears,  and  Who,  as  He  sees  best, 
will  answer.  Touch  the  garment  of  His  Humanity  in  sacra- 
ments, that  upon  you  too,  as  upon  one  of  old,  virtue  may 
come  out  of  Him.  Open  your  conscience  to  the  purifying 
and  consoling  influences  of  His  Spirit ;  open  your  hearts  to 
the  constraining  generosities  of  His  Dying  Love."  .  .  .  The 
real  difficulty  with  thousands  in  the  present  day  is  not  that 
Christianity  has  been  found  wanting,  but  that  it  has  never 
been  seriously  tried.  They  have  been  interested  in  it,  but 
have  remained  at  a  distance  from  it.  They  have  passed 
their  best  years  in  supposing  that  Christ's  religion  is  a 
problem  to  be  ceaselessly  argued  about,  when,  lo  !  it  is  a 
life  to  be  spent  at  the  feet  of  a  Living  Master,  and  it 
justifies  itself  only  and  completely  when  it  is  lived. 


i-3 


Prejudice  and  Experience. 


'5 


At  a  time  like  this,1  when  every  child  understands  the 
tragic  interest  of  what  is  passing,  when  events  of  the  first 
magnitude,  and  pregnant  with  incalculable  consequences, 
are  almost  hourly  expected  or  announced,  it  might  seem 
that  an  invitation,  which  can  lay  no  claim  to  novelty, 
and  which  repeats  itself  in  the  language  of  nineteen  cen- 
turies, has  but  a  slight  chance  of  being  listened  to.  And 
yet,  what  is  the  real  lesson  of  the  scene  of  devastation 
and  slaughter  which  is  absorbing  our  thoughts  and  sym- 
pathies ?  Is  it  not  a  comment  which  all  can  read, 
written  as  it  is  in  characters  of  blood,  upon  those  sunny 
theories  of  human  progress  and  perfectibility,  by  which 
sometimes  commerce,  sometimes  intellectual  culture,  some- 
times even  the  polish  and  refinement  of  the  surface  of 
modern  life,  were  supposed  not  long  since  to  have  effected, 
or  almost  to  have  effected,  that  which  the  Eternal  Christ,  as 
we  were  told,  had  failed  to  work — a  real  regeneration,  a  true, 
lasting  elevation  and  change  in  the  heart  and  thought  of 
man  ?  So  we  were  told;  so  it  already  was,  or  was  presently 
to  be ;  when  lo  !  the  foremost  nations  of  Europe — foremost 
as  leaders  of  its  thought,  foremost  as  producers  of  all 
that  embellishes  its  outward  life — feel  a  glow  of  the  old 
passionate  savagery  of  barbarous  man  stirring  within  them 
in  all  its  ancient  force,  and  bend  the  whole  power  of  their 
cultivated  thought  and  their  strenuous  will,  to  achieve  the 
largest  possible  measure  of  mutual  destruction.  And  thus, 
already  commerce  has  withered  away,  and  intelligence,  ex- 
cept so  far  as  it  is  military  or  political,  is  silent,  and  some  of 
the  best  treasures  of  art  and  literature  2  are  either  perishing 
or  are  menaced  with  impending  destruction,  and  besides 
the  thousands  who  have  been  slaughtered  on  the  field  of 
battle,  entire  populations  are  threatened  with  the  extremities 

1  The  reference  is  to  the  Franco-German  war  of  1870-71. 
3  The  Library  at  Strasburg  had  been  already  destroyed,  and  the  Cathedral 
seriously  damaged.    Paris  was  besieged. 


1 6  Prejudice  and  Experience.  [Serm. 

of  want.  Ay,  and  an  evil  which  is  even  worse  than  these 
is  beginning  to  show  itself;  men  are  growing  to  be  indif- 
ferent to  human  suffering,  because,  forsooth,  suffering  is  on 
so  great  scale  that  the  imagination  cannot  master  it  in 
detail,  and  because  national  feeling  is  degraded  down 
to  the  point  at  which  human  life  weighs  for  very  little 
against  schemes  of  military  conquest.  The  true  import  of 
this  may  be  disguised  beneath  high-sounding  formulas,  but 
it  means  the  abasement  of  the  leading  nations  of  the  world ; 
it  means  the  political  and  social  depression  of  the  van- 
quished ;  it  means,  too  probably,  the  moral  degradation  of 
the  conqueror. 

And  think  you  that  we  Englishmen  shall  be  or  are  un- 
scathed, that  we  are  really  uninfluenced,  while  we  gaze  from 
our  safe  island  home  on  those  sieges,  those  battlefields, 
those  desperate  efforts  of  vengeance,  those  fierce  reprisals  ? 
No ;  it  is  impossible.  It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  the 
character  of  each  one  of  us  has  been  modified,  however 
imperceptibly  to  ourselves,  by  the  successive  incidents  of 
this  terrible  war.  Events  of  such  magnitude  and  character 
cannot  but  have  affected  our  ways  of  thinking  and  feeling 
about  the  actions  of  our  fellow-creatures  and  the  Divine 
government  of  the  world;  so  that  if  ever  there  was  a 
moment  when  the  souls  of  men  needed  to  be  brought  back 
to  their  true  bearings,  to  be  disciplined,  restrained,  upheld, 
chastened,  made  strong  yet  humble,  resolute  yet  tender,  by 
the  true  sight  of  the  one  Perfect  Man,  of  the  one  Hope  and 
Model  of  Humanity,  of  the  Everlasting  Christ,  that  moment 
is  now.  Much  may  depend — far  more  than  we  think — 
within  the  next  quarter  of  a  century,  on  our  seriously 
accepting  the  invitation  to  "  come  and  see  "  Him,  as  per- 
haps we  have  never  seen  Him  yet.  History  is  made  up 
of  the  action  of  nations,  and  nations  in  their  action  do  but 
express  the  collective  will  of  individuals.  As  learners  in 
the  school  of  Christ,  we  may  do  more  than  we  think  for 


I.]  Prejudice  and  Experience.  ij 


others :  we  cannot  fail  to  improve  ourselves.  Those  of 
us  who  know  Him  least  or  not  at  all  may  forthwith  know 
much  of  Him,  if  we  will.  Those  who  know  something  of 
Him  will  feel  and  confess  that  a  nearer  approach,  a  more 
penetrating  sight  of  Him,  is  always  possible ;  so  that  as 
the  years  pass,  the  soul  may,  by  living  experience,  take 
possession  more  and  more  completely  of  that  truth  which 
it  has  hitherto  held  more  or  less  in  deference  to  authority ; 
that  it  may  learn  to  say  with  the  Samaritans  of  old,  "  Now 
we  believe,  not  because  of  thy  saying ;  for  we  have  heard 
Him  ourselves,  and  know  that  this  is  indeed  the  Christ,  the 
Saviour  of  the  world."  1 

1  St.  John  iv.  42. 


B 


SERMON  II. 


HUMILITY  AND  TEUTH. 

I  Cok.  iv.  7. 

Who  malceth  thee  to  differ  from  another?  And  what  hast  thou  that  thou  hast 
not  received  ?  Now  if  thou  didst  receive  it,  why  dost  thou  glory,  as  if  thou 
hadst  not  received  it  ? 

rpHIS  earnest  inquiry  was  occasioned  by  the  serious 
divisions  which  seem  to  have  shown  themselves  in 
the  Church  of  Corinth  soon  after  its  foundation.  Within 
this  local  Church  there  were  at  least  four  distinct  sections., 
if  not  camps.  Each  had  its  practical  aspirations,  its 
characteristic  currents  of  feeling,  its  rallying  cries,  its 
party  names.  The  great  name  of  St.  Peter  would  have 
been  claimed  by  the  adherents  of  Jewish  observances.  St. 
Paul  would  have  been  appealed  to  by  the  advocates  of  an 
entire — it  may  be  a  somewhat  antinomian — freedom  from 
the  ancient  law.  Apollos,  in  all  probability,  was  the 
favourite  teacher  of  a  smaller  section,  interested  in  his 
personal  acquirements,  and  in  the  attractive  graces  of 
Alexandrian  culture.  Even  the  holiest  of  names  was  not 
spared.  "  I  am  of  Christ "  was  a  party  cry,  apparently  put 
forward  by  some,  who,  priding  themselves  on  their  superi- 
ority to  all  party  distinctions,  and  on  their  indifference  to 
the  claim  of  any  human  names,  were  yet  unconsciously 
narrow,  exclusive,  uncharitable,  even  beyond  the  measure 
of  their  brethren. 


Humility  and  Truth. 


19 


It  is  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  St.  Paul  is  here 
apostrophising  a  false  teacher:  he  is  appealing  to  each 
individual  member  of  this  divided  and  distracted  Church. 
He  is  not  dealing  with  the  arguments,  the  characteristics, 
the  particular  spirit  of  any  one  of  its  sections,  but  with 
the  fundamental  evil,  which  was  common,  more  or  less, 
to  all  of  them.  Iu  his  eyes  the  cause  of  the  differences 
was  less  corporate  than  individual,  less  intellectual  than 
moral.  The  names  of  Paul,  Apollos,  Cephas,  were  used — 
we  know  in  one  case,  we  may  be  very  sure  in  the  others — 
without  the  permission  of  their  bearers,  and  by  people  who 
differed,  as  we  should  say,  upon  questions  of  Church 
policy.  The  deeper  divisions  of  later  times,  touching  the 
Person  of  the  Eedeemer  and  the  means  of  Grace,  were 
unknown  in  that  first  age.  Despite  the  vivid  pictures 
winch  an  imaginative  criticism  has  drawn  of  essentially 
different  Gospels  radiating  from  the  minds  of  the  most 
prominent  Apostles,  it  is  certain  that  the  faith  of  the  earliest 
Church  was  essentially  one.  The  questions  which  divided  it 
were,  at  least  chiefly,  of  such  a  character  as  not  to  touch 
the  daily  inward  life  of  the  servants  of  Christ. 1  St.  Paul's 
language  about  the  Judaizers  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Galatians, 
and  the  trenchant  references  to  antinomian  exaggerations 
of  St.  Paul's  doctrine  in  the  messages  to  the  Asiatic 
Churches  of  the  Apocalypse,  alike  bear  upon  individuals 
and  societies  which  were  already  severed  or  were  severing 
themselves  from  the  great  body  of  the  faithful.  The  dis- 
cussions which  were  possible  without  violating  Chinch 
communion  were  personal  and  disciplinary,  rather  than 
doctrinal,  although  no  doubt  they  had  an  increasing 
tendency,  of  varying  strength  in  different  Chinches,  to 

1  In  1  Cor.  xv.  the  Apostle  is  not  "treating  with  a  denial  of  the 
Resurrection  as  a  permissible  form  of  Christian  opinion."  He  is  pointing 
out  its  real  character,  as  fatal  to  all  Christian  faith  (cf.  ver.  17).  There 
is  no  trace  of  any  large  number  of  persons  being  definitely  committed  to  it, 
and  yet  remaining  under  Apostolic  sanction  in  communion  with  the  Church. 


20 


Humility  and  Truth. 


[Serm. 


raise  sooner  or  later  purely  doctrinal  issues.  The  Corin- 
thian party  controversies  were  exactly  of  this  transitional 
character;  and  accordingly  St.  Paul  deals  with  them  as 
involving  moral  rather  than  theological  error.  If  the 
Corinthians  were  so  divided  that  Christian  society  was 
resonant  with  their  war-cries,  this  was  because  they  were 
individually  false  to  the  Christian  character  rather  than 
to  the  Christian  Creed.  If  the  Corinthian  Christians  could 
only  learn  to  be  individually  humble,  the  Church  of  Corinth 
would  soon  again  be  one. 

It  is  often  as  unprofitable  to  address  corporate  bodies 
as  to  address  metaphysical  abstractions;  and  St.  Paul 
therefore,  with  his  practical  genius,  deals  with  the  Corin- 
thian Church  in  the  person  of  each  Corinthian.  The 
Corinthians,  he  says,  are  puffed  up;1  the  new  world  of 
thought  and  feeling  to  which  they  had  been  introduced  by 
the  faith  of  Christ  had  only  furnished  them  with  materials 
for  enhancing  their  individual  self-importance.  They  ap- 
proved of  this  Apostle ;  they  disliked  that  Apostle ;  they 
forgot  that  an  Apostle  was  only  a  minister  by  whom  the 
faith  was  propagated ;  they  made  of  him  a  sectional  leader, 
in  whose  favour  they  gave  their  suffrages.  It  followed 
that  they  were  the  important  people,  not  he ;  it  was  they 
who  discriminated,  who  approved,  who  conferred  moral 
authority ;  upon  them  the  success  or  popularity  of  their 
chosen  representative  was  inevitably  reflected.  Thus  each 
member  of  the  Church  became,  in  his  own  thought,  its 
centre ;  while  its  real  pioneers,  and  workmen,  and  rulers 
— and,  what  was  unspeakably  more  serious,  One  infinitely 
higher  and  holier  than  them  all — were  virtually  banished 
to  the  circumference.  Christianity  was  already  ministering 
to  a  temper  which  it  was  its  business  and  its  triumph 
to  destroy :  religious  language  was  the  vehicle  and  the 
unction  of  a  profoundly  irreligious  deterioration. 

1  I  Cor.  iv.  6,  eh  virtp  rod  ivbs  (pvatovade  Kara  rod  irtpov. 


II.] 


Humility  and  Truth. 


The  Apostle  does  not  deal  tenderly  with  so  serious  an 
evil :  he  does  not  wish  to  give  it  any  chance  of  resistance ; 
he  will  tread  it  out  at  once.  He  heaps  question  upon 
question,  without  waiting  for  an  answer;  he  would  be 
guilty  perhaps  of  what  the  logicians  call  the  fallacy  of 
many  questions,  if  any  of  his  questions  could  really  have 
been  answered. 1  He  strips  off,  with  no  gentle  hand,  the 
disguise  which  hid  the  Corinthians  from  themselves,  and 
which  made  their  self-assertion  tolerable.  They  assumed  that 
they  were  what  they  were  in  virtue  of  some  original  and 
inherent  right  to  be  so;  they  supposed  that  they  possessed 
what  they  had  as  owners  of  some  indefeasible  title  to  pos- 
session. The  truth  was  that  they  were  simply  pensioners ; 
pensioners  upon  a  Bounty  Which  had  given  them  their 
all.  And  it  was  necessary  that  they  should  be  reminded 
of  their  dependence. 

"  Who  maketh  thee  to  differ  from  another,  whether  he  be 
a  heathen  or  a  brother  in  the  faith  ?  And  what  hast  thou 
of  social  or  moral,  or  mental  or  spiritual  wealth,  that  thou 
didst  not  receive  ?  Now,  if  thou  didst  receive  it,  why 
dost  thou  glory  as  if  thou  hadst  not  received  it  ? "  As  we 
think  over  St.  Paul's  question,  we  perceive  that  its  range 
of  application  is  wider  than  that  which  the  Apostle's  first 
readers  would  have  assigned  to  it.  It  does  not  merely 
deal  with  an  incidental  and  local  form  of  moral  mischief; 
it  probes,  and  to  the  quick,  a  constant  and  world-wide 
tendency  in  human  beings.  It  is  addressed  not  merely  to 
Corinthian,  but  to  human  nature ;  and  as  we  stand  before 
the  Apostolic  examiner,  the  Church  of  Corinth,  with  its 
chiefs,  its  parties,  its  heart-burnings,  recedes  from  view 
and  disappears  ;  we  hear  this  master  of  moral  truth  speak- 
ing to  us  of  to-day — speaking  to  us  all — speaking  to  each 
of  us. 

1  I  Cor.  i.  13. 


22 


Humility  and  Truth.  [Serm. 


I. 

There  are  probably  two  leading  objections  in  a  great 
many  minds  to  cultivating  humility ;  objections  which  lie 
generally  against  the  whole  of  the  self-repressing  side  of 
Christian  ethics.  In  plain  words,  humility  seems  to  in- 
volve a  risk  of  tampering  with  sincerity,  and  a  risk  of 
losing  moral  force.  Now,  the  first  of  these  objections 
takes  it  for  granted  that  humility  is  something  dramatic 
and  unreal ;  that  it  consists  in  word  or  manner  which  is 
put  on  for  an  occasion,  without  being  dictated  by  sincere 
feeling  or  conviction.  This  is,  however,  no  more  humility, 
than  an  outward  semblance  of  reverence  in  church,  while 
the  mind  is  wandering  everywhere  except  in  the  direction 
of  God's  Throne,  is  devotion.  Humility  is  essentially  the 
recognition  of  truth  ;  it  is  the  taking  in  act  and  word  and 
thought  that  low  estimate  of  ourselves  which  is  the  true 
estimate.  If  we  do  not  seriously  think  that  such  an 
estimate  is  the  true  one,  it  is  only  because  we  have  never 
seen  ourselves  as  we  really  are.  We  have  yet  to  learn  our 
real  relationship  to  the  Being  to  Whom  we  owe  our  existence, 
and  the  weakness  which  impairs  our  moral  force,  and  the 
evil  that  clings  to  us  within.'  In  the  meantime,  no  doubt, 
it  is  better  not  to  pretend  that  we  have  done  so  ;  while  it 
is  certain  that  such  pretence,  if  we  should  be  guilty  of  it, 
would  not  be  rightly  termed  humility.  The  same  notion  of 
humility,  as  something  necessarily  dramatic  and  fictitious, 
is  at  the  bottom  of  the  apprehension  that  it  involves  a  loss 
of  moral  strength.  Of  course  moral  force  is  lost  by  every 
form  of  untruthfulness,  even  the  least ;  but  genuine  humi- 
lity is  in  its  essence  the  planting  our  foot  upon  the  hard 
rock  of  truth  and  fact,  and  often  when  it  costs  us  a  great 
deal  to  do  so.  To  confess  ignorance,  to  confess  wrong,  to 
admit  incapacity,  when  it  would  be  useful  to  be  thought/ 


II.] 


Humility  and  Truth, 


23 


capable,  to  decline  a  reputation  to  which  we  have  no  right, 
— these  things,  and  others  of  the  same  kind,  are  humility  in 
action.  They  are  often  notoriously  hard  and  painful ;  they 
are  always  of  the  greatest  possible  value  in  bracing  the 
character ;  they  are  so  far  from  forfeiting  moral  force  that 
they  enrich  us  with  it  just  as  all  approximations  to  false- 
hood forfeit  it.  If  we  are  weak,  sinful,  corrupt,  it  is  better 
to  learn  and  to  feel  the  true  state  of  the  case,  than  to 
live  in  a  fool's  paradise.  The  great  and  unfortunate 
country  which  now  lies  wounded  and  bleeding  on  the  soil 
of  Europe,  must  surely  feel  that  she  would  not  at  this 
moment  be  worse  off  if  she  had  discovered  and  confessed  to 
herself  the  real  truth  as  to  her  resources  seven  months  ago.1 
Every  man  is  the  stronger  for  knowing  the  worst  he 
can  know  about  himself,  and  for  acting  on  this  knowledge. 
And  if  religious  men  such  as  David  and  St.  Paul  use 
language2  about  themselves  which  seems  to  any  of  us 
exaggerated  in  the  excess  of  its  self-depreciation,  this  is 
because  they  saw  much  more  of  the  Holiness  of  God,  and 
of  the  real  nature  of  moral  evil,  than  we  do  :  to  them  such 
language  is  only  the  sober  representation  of  a  plain  fact. 
These  great  servants  of  God  were  not  dazzled  by  any  of 
the  inherited  or  acquired  decorations  which  hide  from  so 
many  of  us  our  real  selves,  and  which  the  Apostle  in  the 
text  is  so  determined  to  strip  off  from  us. 

H. 

The  founder  of  this  Sermon 3  was  probacy  of  opinion 
that  there  were  particular  reasons  for  addressing  it  year 
by  year  to  an  academical  audience.  If  we  may  form  an 
estimate  from  the  drift  of  the  somewhat  restricted  number 

1  The  allusion  is  to  the  later  stage  of  the  Franco-German  war,  1870-71. 
9  Ps.  li.  1-3.    1  Cor.  xv.  9. 

*  The  Humility  Sermon,  preached  on  Quinquagesima  Sunday. 


24 


Humility  and  Truth.  [Serm. 


of  passages  from  Holy  Scripture  which  he  has  prescribed 
for  the  preacher's  use  on  this  occasion,  he  would  seem  to 
have  thought  that  there  were  three  features  of  University 
life  which  make  humility  more  or  less  difficult  of  attain- 
ment. Although  a  change  has  taken  place  within  the  last 
quarter  of  a  century,  those  who  study  here  still  belong  for 
the  most  part  to  the  wealthy  classes.  And  the  culture  of 
the  intellect,  which  is  the  proper  work  of  the  students 
at  a  University,  has  dangers  which  are  too  obvious  to  be 
disputed.  Nay,  more,  the  interest  in  religious  questions, 
which  is  a  product  of  all  intellectual  activity,  may  very 
easily  combine  loyalty  to  truths  which  men  have  sincerely 
at  heart,  with  an  estimate  of  self  and  an  estimate  of  others 
which  these  truths  condemn. 

a.  "  Who  maketh  thee  to  differ  from  another  ?  And  what 
hast  thou  that  thou  hast  not  received  ?"  How  does  this 
question  apply  to  the  case  of  a  young  man  who  comes  to 
Oxford  with  good  social  connections,  perhaps  with  a  title, 
with  a  large  allowance,  and  a  prospect  of  a  fortune  in 
course  of  time  ?  If  we  could  dissect  his  thought  about 
his  position  and  means,  what  is  the  idea  which  underlies 
all  the  rest,  and  upon  which  he  habitually  dwells  ?  It  is 
the  idea  of  right.  He  has  a  right  to  his  position ;  to  have 
what  he  has  ;  to  be  what  he  is.  And,  legally  and  politically 
speaking,  he  is  not  mistaken.  There  is  no  flaw  in  the 
title-deeds  of  his  estate ;  and  the  law  will  guarantee  him 
and  his  heirs  in  its  possession  until  the  law  itself  shall 
have  been  fundamentally  modified,  or  altogether  repealed 
by  some  social  revolution.  Nay,  he  is  morally  justified  in 
resting  on  this  conviction  of  his  right,  at  least  in  a  certain 
measure.  The  idea  of  property,  provided  that  there  be 
an  adequate  sense  of  responsibility  in  the  possessor,  is  a 
moral  idea.  Unless  property  have  a  moral  basis,  the 
eighth  and  the  tenth  commandments  are  unmeaning. 


II. ]  Humility  and  Truth, 


25 


Property  is  a  product  of  moral  laws,  and  of  circumstances 
which  operate  inevitably  in  human  society.  Thus  it 
belongs  to  the  Divine  Government  of  the  world ;  and  an 
indistinct  apprehension  of  this  truth  sanctions  more  power- 
fully than  any  legal  technicality  or  document  that  idea  of 
right  which  lies  at  the  bottom  of  the  young  man's  mind 
about  his  fortune  and  place  among  his  fellows.  So  far 
there  is  no  fault  to  be  found  with  him:  but  then,  what 
are  his  thoughts  about  the  origin  of  this  right  which  he 
has  to  his  position  and  property  ?  Upon  the  answer  which 
he  gives  to  that  question  in  his  daily  thoughts  will  depend 
his  bearing  before  God  and  men.  If  he  pays  no  heed  to 
this  matter ;  if  he  says  to  himself,  "  Fact  is  fact,  and  right 
is  right ;  I  find  myself  in  these  circumstances ;  I  am  a 
fortunate  man,  and  mean  to  make  the  best  of  my  good 
luck then  it  is  probable  that  he  will  presume  upon  what 
he  has,  and  is,  in  his  dealings  with  his  fellow-creatures, 
and  in  his  thoughts  towards  his  God.  He  tacitly  assumes 
that  there  is  some  indefeasible  title,  some  necessity  rooted 
in  the  nature  of  things,  for  his  having  and  being  what 
he  has  and  is.  He  cannot,  it  seems,  so  far  exercise  his 
imagination  as  to  picture  the  world  and  society  to  himself, 
with  himself  in  a  different  position — say  quite  at  the  other 
end  of  society.  Hence  he  naturally  deals  with  his  position 
and  income  as  giving  him  a  right  to  all  the  superiorities 
which  he  can  assert  over  others,  and  especially  as  giving 
him  a  right  to  feel  independent ;  independent  of  his  fellow- 
men  ;  independent  of  all  but  extraordinary  circumstances ; 
yes, — he  would  not  say  it,  but  such  are  his  secret 
thoughts — independent  of  his  God.  The  poor,  he  thinks, 
may  well  be  anxious,  and  anxiety  is  the  mother  of  prayer : 
but  he,  why  should  he  be  anxious,  when  all  the  luxuries 
of  life  are  secured  to  him  ?  and  if  he  is  not  anxious,  why, — 
except  as  a  matter  of  pathetic  sentiment  or  of  early  habit, 
— why  should  he  pray  ?    Prayer  is  the  language  of  a  con- 


26 


Humility  and  Truth.  [Serm. 


sciously  dependent  being,  and  he  cannot  pretend  to  say 
that  he  feels  himself  dependent  upon  anybody.  Prayer 
is  the  language  of  humility,  and  it  would  be  affectation  in 
him  to  act  as  if  he  were  humble,  or  thought  it  desirable 
to  be  so. 

Yet  what  is  the  truth  ?  The  truth  is  that  his  idea  of 
right,  upon  which  all  else  reposes,  is  a  caricature  of  the 
real  right  which  he  has  to  his  position.  His  real  right 
is  that  not  of  an  original  landlord,  but  of  a  tenant  at  will. 
Speaking  strictly,  there  is  only  One  Landlord  in  this  world : 
it  is  He  Who  made  it.  All  else  are  but  His  tenantry ;  and 
although  He  ejects  His  tenants  when  it  pleases  Him, 
sometimes  very  summarily  indeed,  they  have  against  Him, 
neither  in  right  nor  in  fact,  any  plea  or  remedy.  They 
have  indeed  the  rights  of  tenants  at  will,  but  that  is  all. 
They  are  in  every  sense  His  pensioners,  and  to  take  any 
other  view  of  their  position  is  to  incur  the  risk,  or  rather 
the  certainty,  of  being  one  day  rudely  undeceived. 

There  are  in  the  literature  of  the  Church  few  treatises 
more  abounding  in  noble  and  invigorating  thoughts  than 
that  "  On  Consideration,"  which  was  addressed  by  St.  Ber- 
nard to  Pope  Eugenius  III.  Eugenius  had  been  a  Cistercian 
monk ;  and  in  raising  him  to  the  Papal  Throne  after  the 
violent  death  of  Lucius  EL,  the  Eoman  Court  may  have 
been  anxious  to  avail  itself  of  the  vast  political  influence 
which  was  wielded  beyond  the  Alps  by  the  Abbot  of 
Clairvaux.  The  consciousness  of  this  will  in  part  explain 
the  freedom  of  St.  Bernard's  words.  But  Eugenius  was  not  a 
man  to  be  any  one's  tool,  and  at  that  date  the  Eoman 
Chair  was  surrounded  with  a  halo  of  prestige  and  power 
to  which  the  modern  world  affords  no  parallel.  Yet  St. 
Bernard  does  not  merely  write  as  an  old  friend,  frankly 
discussing  the  details  of  a  new  position ;  he  does  not  merely 
point  out  the  vices,  the  extortions  of  the  Eoman  Court, 
the  corrupt  traditions  of  the  Papal  administration  at  home 


II.] 


Humility  and  Truth. 


27 


and  abroad.  He  addresses  himself  to  Eugenius  personally, 
and  in  terms  which  few  men  in  such  a  station  often  listen  to. 
Let  Eugenius  strip  from  his  eyes  all  the  veils  and  bandages 
which  may  disguise  from  him  the  true  state  of  his  case. 
He  is  still  merely  a  man  and  a  sinner,  only  charged  with 
heavier  responsibilities  than  his  fellows.  Grant  that  he  is 
the  heir  of  the  Apostles,  the  first  of  the  Christian  Bishops ; 
grant  that  Abel  and  Noah,  and  Abraham  and  Melchisedek, 
and  Aaron  and  Moses,  and  Samuel  and  Peter,  and  One  infi- 
nitely Higher  than  them  all,  are  represented  in  him ;  what 
does  this  mean  ?  Not  pre-eminence  in  dignity,  so  much 
as  pre-eminence  in  labour.  Dignity  of  itself,  exclaims 
St.  Bernard,  is  not  a  certificate  of  virtue.  Let  Eugenius 
look  to  it,  that  he  be  in  spirit  the  successor  of  Peter,  not 
the  successor  of  Constantine. 1  If  he  is  chiefly  thinking 
of  his  honours,  he  has  his  part,  not  with  the  Apostle,  but 
with  Nebuchadnezzar,  with  Alexander  of  Macedon,  with 
Antiochus  Epiphanes,  with  Herod.  Let  him  forget  the 
robes  he  wears,  the  gems  which  sparkle  in  his  tiara,  the 
plumes  which  wave  around  him,  the  precious  metals  which 
adorn  his  palace,  his  vast  influence  over  the  Western  world. 
These,  exclaims  St.  Bernard,  are  but  as  the  mists  of  the 
morning.  They  are  already  passing ;  presently  they  will 
have  passed  for  ever.  "  Dele  fucum  fugacis  honoris  hujus, 
et  male  coloratae  nitorem  glorias,  ut  nude  nudum  consi- 
ders quia  nudus  egressus  es  de  utero  matris  time."2  All 
that  has  been  superadded  will  as  certainly  be  removed, 
and  beneath  all  there  remains,  on  the  Papal  Throne  as  in 
the  humblest  of  peasant  dwellings,  "  man  that  is  born  of 
woman,  having  a  short  time  to  live,  and  being  full  of 
misery ;  man  that  cometh  up,  and  is  cut  down  as  a  flower, 
and  fleeth  as  it  were  a  shadow,  and  never  continueth  in 
one  stage." 

1  De  Consid.  p.  76. 

2  Ibid.  p.  40,  ed.  Berlin.    Cf.  Milman,  Latin  Christianity,  vol.  iii.  p.  396. 


28 


Humility  and  Truth.  [Serm. 


It  may  be  thought  that  the  social  foes  of  humility  are 
less  powerful  now  than  in  bygone  years,  that  good  taste  on 
this  side,  and  the  strong  and  strengthening  current  of 
political  democracy  on  that,  have  in  this  matter  already 
done,  or  bid  fair  to  do,  the  proper  work  of  the  Gospel.  But 
this  is  to  forget  that  the  essence  of  all  true  moral  excellence 
lies  not  in  external  conformity  to  a  conventional  standard, 
but  in  an  inward  disposition  under  the  control  of  recog- 
nised principle.  The  formulas  of  good  taste  are  merely 
an  elegant  translation  of  the  common  opinion  of  contem- 
porary society.  The  humility  of  good  taste  is  strictly  an 
affair  of  appropriate  phrases,  gestures,  reserves,  withdrawals; 
it  is  the  result  of  a  socially  enforced  conformity  to  an  outward 
law.  The  humility  of  democratic  feeling  is  often  a  very 
vigorous  form  of  pride,  which  is  scarcely  at  pains  to  disguise 
its  real  character.  The  demand  for  an  impossible  social 
equality,  which  has  done  so  much  to  discredit  some  of  the 
noblest  aspirations  for  liberty  that  the  modern  world  has 
known,  is  due  to  the  temper  which  creates  a  tyranny,  only 
working  under  circumstances  which,  for  the  moment,  forbid 
it.  The  impatience  of  an  equal  in  the  one  case  is  the 
impatience  of  a  superior  in  the  other.  The  humility  of  a 
democracy  is  largely  concerned  with  enforcing  an  outward 
conformity  to  this  virtue  on  the  part  of  other  people ;  and 
both  it  and  the  humility  of  good  taste  may  remind  us  of  those 
cannibals  who  have  walked  in  our  parks  clothed  in  the  dress 
and  affecting  the  manners  of  European  civilization,  and  yet 
have  found  it  difficult  to  restrain  themselves  from  indulg- 
ing old  habits  when  there  has  been  much  to  tempt  them. 
Humility,  to  be  genuine,  must  be  based  on  principle;  and 
that  principle  is  suggested  by  the  Apostle's  question,  which 
warns  every  human  being  that,  be  his  wealth,  his  titles,  his 
position,  his  name  among  men,  what  they  may,  they  afford 
no  real  ground  for  self-exaltation,  because  they  are  external 
to  his  real  self,  and  are  in  fact  bestowed  on  him  from  above. 


II.] 


Humility  and  Truth, 


29 


/3.  "  Who  maketh  thee  to  differ  from  another  ?  And 
what  hast  thou  that  thou  hast  not  received  ? "  This  is  a 
question  too  for  those  who  have  good  abilities,  and  who 
have  made  the  best  of  them.  The  day  has  probably  gone 
by  when  clever  idleness  was  of  more  account  in  this  place 
than  hardworking  mediocrity.  We  have  ceased  to  think 
that  there  is  anything  intrinsically  respectable  in  the 
possession  of  abilities  which  men  do  not  use.  But  then 
this  higher  and  more  moral  estimate  of  mental  accom- 
plishments, which  has  more  reverence  for  the  hardly  won 
results  of  patient  work  than  for  the  flashes  of  genius, 
which  cost  men  nothing,  is  not  unlikely  to  obscure  the  truth 
before  us.  To  those  who  believe  in  a  Creator  at  all,  Who 
made  us  all  and  each  exactly  what  we  are,  there  can  be 
no  question  as  to  the  true  source  of  natural  ability.  But 
work  is  the  activity  of  a  human  agent,  and  the  results  of 
work  are  the  products  of  that  activity,  and  these  results 
are  not,  like  inherited  income  or  titles,  external  to  the  real 
man  ;  they  become  the  furniture  of  one  very  important  part 
of  his  being :  his  memory  and  his  understanding  are  per- 
manently enriched  by  them.  Is  it  possible  to  say  in  the 
case  of  the  hard-working  student,  who  has  disciplined  and 
stored  his  mind,  that  he  too  has  nothing  which  he  has  not 
received  ?  Has  he  not  won  a  great  deal  that  he  possesses  ? 
is  not  his  knowledge,  as  well  as  his  capacity,  a  result 
of  his  persevering  energy  ?  And  is  he  not  on  this  account 
entitled  in  reason  to  a  regulated  self-confidence,  which 
proclaims  that  he  is  the  creation  of  his  own  efforts ;  which 
asserts  his  superiority,  in  this  very  respect,  to  men  who 
are  only  what  God  and  circumstances  have  made  them  ? 

Undoubtedly  we  here  meet  with  a  feature  which  is 
wanting  in  the  case  already  considered ;  here  is  the  active 
co-operation  of  a  self-determining  will.  But  if  we  except 
the  will,  all  besides  is  independent  of  the  worker.  Tor 
instance,  to  intellectual  success  in  this  place,  three  con- 


30 


Humility  and  Truth, 


[Serm. 


ditions,  speaking  generally,  are  essential;  preparatory 
training,  abilities  of  a  certain  order,  and  fairly  good  health. 
Certainly,  in  some  cases  one  or  more  of  these  conditions 
have  been  dispensed  with.  Some  men  have  succeeded  by 
dint  of  sheer  perseverance,  although  their  education  may 
almost  be  said  to  have  begun  here.  Others  have  done 
well  whose  abilities  have  appeared  at  the  time  and  after- 
wards— to  their  great  credit — altogether  below  the  level  of 
their  honours.  Others  again  have  distinguished  themselves 
whose  work  has  cost  them  hours  of  weary  pain,  and  who 
have  triumphed  at  last  only  to  sink  into  an  early  grave. 
Such  cases  will  occur  to  the  memories  of  those  of  us  who 
have  resided  in  Oxford  for  any  number  of  years.  But 
these  cases  are  exceptions  to  the  general  rule ;  and  in  each 
one  of  these  cases  there  is  generally  some  physical  or 
mental  endowment  which  enables  the  student  to  conquer 
his  disadvantages,  and  which  is  itself  God's  gracious  gift. 
But  the  will :  is  that  His  gift  too  ?  Surely  it  is ;  only 
here  His  generosity  is  of  that  delicate  kind  which  conceals 
His  Hand,  and  allows  His  pensioner  to  imagine  for  a 
moment  that  he  has  something  which  he  can  really  look 
upon  as  originally  his  own.  The  kindly  stranger  who 
would  not  wound  the  sensitiveness  of  an  impoverished 
gentleman,  hid  the  purse  of  gold  at  a  spot  in  the  garden 
where  it  could  not  but  presently  be  found,  and  then  retired 
to  a  thicket  from  which,  without  risk  of  being  observed, 
he  might  enjoy  the  sight  of  the  discovery.  And  thus 
God  allows  man  for  the  moment  to  imagine  that  the  will 
is  a  power  for  which  he  is  indebted  to  no  other  being, 
since  it  is  the  movement  and  energy  of  the  man's  own 
self,  of  his  inmost  being.  So  it  is  :  but  then,  is  man  his 
own  creator  ?  Does  he  indeed  owTe  his  central,  his  deepest 
life  to  no  other  ?  Is  his  personal  self-determining  spirit 
self-originating  ?  Is  there,  in  short,  anything  in  man  which 
makes  him  differ  so  vitally  from  other  creatures  that  he 
has  in  it  that  which  he  has  not  received  ? 


II.] 


Httmility  and  Truth. 


3i 


It  is  often  said,  and  more  frequently  thought,  that  such 
rank  weeds  as  pride  of  intellect  grow  more  readily  and 
more  thickly  in  the  soil  of  University  life  than  elsewhere. 
Nor  do  I  deny  that  there  are  reasons  for  such  an  appre- 
hension, especially  when  life  is  passed  in  cultivation  of 
the  intellect  for  its  own  sake,  without  any  corresponding 
discipline  of  the  heart  and  character,  and  without  any 
sufficient  recognition  of  the  fact  that  no  man  has  any  right 
to  cultivate  his  intellect  without  reference  to  his  duties  to 
his  fellowmen.  But  is  this  necessarily  or  generally  the 
case  ?  Surely  not.  University  life  offers  some  advantages 
for  learning  humility  which  are  scarcely  attainable  else- 
where. It  is  a  misfortune  for  a  man  to  be  placed  early 
in  life  in  a  position  where  he  has  few  or  no  equals, 
while  a  number  of  inferior  minds  constantly  depend  on 
and  defer  to  him.  In  such  a  position,  even  good  men 
have  imperceptibly  acquired  an  estimate  of  themselves, 
of  their  judgment,  their  abilities,  their  services  to  God 
and  to  their  fellows,  which  is  inconsistent  with  fact,  and 
fatal  to  humility.  To  those  who  spend  life  here  this  danger 
can  hardly  present  itself.  Probably  no  body  of  men  is  less 
controlled  by  conventional  and  fictitious  standards  of  im- 
portance than  are  the  resident  members  of  the  University. 
Here  a  man's  intrinsic  worth,  or  what  is  believed  to  be 
such,  is  the  measure  of  the  consideration  extended  to  him. 
Every  resident  must  feel  that  he  lives  in  the  presence 
of  men  who  are  in  some  ways  his  superiors.  Even  the 
most  accomplished  must  recognise  those  who  excel  himself, 
if  not  in  investigating  this  department  of  truth,  yet  in 
mastering  that;  if  not  in  the  cultivation  of  this  faculty, 
yet  in  disciplining  another ;  if  not  in  mental,  at  least  in 
moral  attainments ;  if  not  in  this  form  of  moral  beauty, 
then  in  that.  How  great  this  blessing  is,  any  man  can 
say,  who,  while  living  here,  has  been  taking  pains  with  his 
character,  and  using  the  opportunities  for  training  it  which 


32 


Humility  and  Truth.  [Sekm. 


God  has  thus  put  in  his  way.  And  indeed,  if  this  aid  to 
humility  were  wanting  in  Oxford,  there  is  another,  which 
must  occasionally  obtrude  itself  with  painful  importunity 
upon  the  thoughts  of  all  of  us.  Living,  as  we  do  here,  with 
more  or  less  power  of  controlling  our  time,  with  learning 
in  so  many  ways  made  easy  to  us,  with  libraries,  teachers, 
traditions  around  that  invite  us  so  gracefully,  so  persuasively, 
to  make  some  little  portion  of  truth  our  own ;  can  we  forget 
— we  cannot  forget — the  thousands,  the  tens  of  thousands, 
of  working  men  who  toil  in  our  great  centres  of  industry  ; 
men  with  hearts  not  less  warm,  with  an  interest  in  life  and 
a  sense  of  its  capabilities  not  less  keen,  with  intellects,  be 
sure,  at  the  very  least,  not  less  strong  or  less  acute  than  our 
own,  yet  denied  by  their  circumstances  the  very  least  of 
our  advantages,  and  knowing  full  well  what  this  exclusion 
implies,  and  wondering  that  we  who  live  in  what  seems  to 
them  a  very  paradise,  do  not  make  more  of  it.  What 
would  they  not  achieve,  if  they  too,  instead  of  working  with 
their  hands  for  bread  throughout  each  long  day,  could  take 
our  places  ?  What  might  not  we  do,  if  we  would  but 
steadily  reflect  on  the  simple  fact  that  there  is  absolutely 
no  reason  whatever,  save  the  free  and  unmerited  bounty  of 
God's  Providence  towards  us,  against  our  taking  theirs  ? 
Well;  what  we  or  they  would  do  under  other  than  our 
actual  circumstances  is  an  intricate  question,  which  it  may 
be  useless  to  discuss ;  but  one  result  should  surely  follow 
from  the  most  passing  and  superficial  consideration  of  such 
a  subject;  if  it  did  nothing  else,  it  should  make  us  humble. 

y.  "Who  maketh  thee  to  differ  from  another?  And  what 
hast  thou  that  thou  hast  not  received?"  The  question 
especially  concerns  those  who  possess,  or  believe  that  they 
possess,  religious  truth  and  religious  advantages.  It  was 
to  such  persons  that  the  Apostle  himself  addressed 
it.    The  Corinthian  of  whom  the  Apostle  is  thinking 


II.] 


Humility  and  Truth. 


believed  himself  to  differ  from  his  fellow-Christians,  not 
in  social  standing  or  intellectual  culture,  but  specifically 
in  the  possession  of  a  truer  religious  faith.  If  the  Apostle 
had  shared  some  modern  opinions  as  to  the  importance 
of  Christian  doctrine,  he  would  have  epigrammatically 
dismissed  the  several  points  that  were  discussed  at 
Corinth  as  having  no  real  claim  to  serious  consideration. 
But  although  St.  Paul  knew  how  to  insist  upon  the  non- 
essential character  of  certain  open  questions,  which  weak 
or  narrow  brethren,  to  the  detriment  of  the  Church's  true 
comprehensiveness,  would  fain  have  closed,1  he  was  far 
too  keenly  alive  to  the  conditions  under  which  alone 
intellectual  loyalty  to  a  Revelation  claiming  to  be  from 
God  is  possible,  to  affect  or  encourage  indifference  about 
matters  that  might  even  remotely  touch  its  substance.2 
The  personalities  that  were  exchanged  at  Corinth  did 
conceal  tendencies  towards  really  divergent  convictions ; 
and  all  these  tendencies  could  not  be  equally  directed 
towards  truth,  since  some  of  them  were  mutually  ex- 
clusive of  each  other.  St.  Paul,  then,  does  not  tell  the 
Corinthian  that  the  idea  of  his  differing  from  another  is  of 
itself  a  presumptuous  absurdity ;  he  assumes  the  difference 
to  exist,  and  even  to  be  legitimate;  he  concentrates  the 
point  and  strength  of  his  question  upon  the  source  of  the 
difference.  "  Who  maketh  thee  to  differ  ?"  The  Corinthian 
of  whom  he  is  thinking  had  taken  it  for  granted  that  his 
religious  orthodoxy,  supposing  it  to  be  such,  was,  like  a 
conquest  of  the  natural  intellect,  simply  a  result  of  his 
own  industry  or  sharpsightedness.  Even  if  this  had  been 
the  case,  the  natural  faculty  and  the  strength  which  em- 
ployed it  would  still  have  been  God's  gifts.  Yet,  when 
religious  truth  is  learnt  to  any  purpose,  it  is  learnt  not 
merely  as  a  problem  which  is  grasped  by  the  understand- 
ing, but  as  a  rule  of  thought  and  life  which  is  freely 

1  Rom.  xiv.  3.    1  Cor.  viii.  9.        n-  Gal.  i.  8,  9  ;  v.  2-4.    Tim.  i.  19,  20. 


34 


Humility  and  Truth. 


[Serm. 


accepted  by  the  will,  and  especially  as  a  tender  devotion 
towards  an  unseen  Person  that  can  possess  and  govern 
and  absorb  the  heart.  These  things  are  separable  in 
treatises  on  religious  psychology;  they  are  inseparable 
in  the  practical  experience  of  the  living  Christian  to  whom 
his  creed  is  a  serious  reality.  They  carry  us,  if  we  are  to 
account  for  them  in  their  entirety,  far  beyond  the  range 
of  any  human  energy  or  forethought.  We  are  here  on 
the  traces  of  the  work  of  the  inward  Teacher,  Whose 
task  was  already  heralded  by  prophecy ;  Who  was  to  write 
the  Will  of  God  upon  the  hearts  of  men ;  Who  was  to 
supplement,  and  at  times  to  supersede,  natural  methods  of 
inquiry  by  an  inward  illumination.  We  are  here  close 
to  a  phenomenon,  higher,  more  complex,  more  beautiful, 
in  every  way  more  worthy  of  attention,  than  any  which 
we  find  within  the  frontiers  of  the  natural  universe.  We 
are  already  thinking  of  Divine  Grace.  Apart  from  Grace 
the  religious  life  of  Christendom  is  a  thick  tangle  of  un- 
intelligible mysticism :  in  view  of  it,  antecedents  and 
effects  are  scarcely  less  clearly  traceable  than  in  the 
heavens  above  us,  or  in  the  beautiful  clothing  of  the  earth 
beneath  our  feet,  or  in  the  machinery  and  functions  of 
our  bodies.  Or,  to  be  more  exact,  Grace  may  remind  us 
of  the  action  of  such  mysterious  forces  in  nature  as  is 
electricity,  which,  although  ever  under  the  governance 
of  law,  is  at  one  while  so  independent  of  us  as  to  threaten 
us  from  the  clouds  with  ruin  and  death,  and  at  another  so 
wholly  within  our  power  that,  like  a  public  messenger 
or  a  household  servant,  it  does  our  bidding  with  docile 
precision. 

But  if  there  be  one  thing  more  than  another  characteristic 
of  Grace,  it  is  that  we  have  nothing  to  do  with  winning  it. 
We  may  co-operate  with  it ;  we  may  forfeit  it  if  we  neglect 
it ;  we  may  or  may  not  have  predispositions  for  receiving 
it.    But  in  itself  it  is,  as  its  name  implies,  a  free  gift ;  it 


II.] 


Humility  and  Truth. 


is  given  by  Him  Who  might  withhold  it.  We  cannot 
either  claim  it  as  a  right ;  or  possess  ourselves  of  it  sur- 
reptitiously ;  or  galvanize  our  natural  faculties  into  doing 
its  work,  so  as  to  diminish  our  sense  of  obligation  towards 
the  Giver.  In  its  wider  and  its  narrower  sense,  Grace 
is  His  Gift.  The  whole  economy  of  Redemption,  the 
Incarnation  of  the  Divine  Son,  His  perfect  Teaching,  His 
sinless  Example,  His  Expiatory  Death,  His  Rising  from 
the  Grave,  His  Ascension  on  High,  His  perpetual  pleading 
in  that  world  beyond  the  stars ;  whence  is  all  this  but  from 
the  free,  undeserved  bounty  of  the  Infinite  Mercy  thus 
lavished  upon  us,  the  children  of  the  Eall  ?  And  Grace, 
in  the  specific  sense  of  the  action  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  by 
Whom  the  whole  Church  is  governed  and  sanctified ;  by 
Whom  the  individual  heart  is  filled  with  light  and  love ; 
and  Whose  work  especially  it  is,  sometimes  freely,  some- 
times through  channels  accurately  defined  and  known, 
such  as  are  the  Sacraments,  to  knit  our  frail  and  perishing 
nature  to  the  Divine  Humanity  of  the  Saviour ;  what  is 
Grace,  in  this  narrower  and  more  accustomed  sense  but  a 
free  gift  from  first  to  last  ?  Assuredly,  if  there  be  aught 
good  in  us,  Grace  has  made  us  what  we  are,  and  without 
it  our  life  is  as  nothing,  or  worse  than  nothing  before  the 
Sanctity  and  the  Justice  of  God. 

"  What  hast  thou  that  thou  hast  not  received  ? "  So  far  as 
the  spiritual  life  is  concerned,  there  is  but  one  answer  to 
that  question.  And  when  that  answer  is  sincerely  meant, 
it  makes  the  assumption  of  personal  superiority,  on  the 
ground  of  possessing  a  higher  truth  or  fuller  religious 
privileges  than  others,  utterly  impossible.  For  there  is 
indeed  one  possession  which  we  have  not  received,  and 
which  is  wanting  to  none  of  us.  We  can  reasonably  call 
it  our  own,  since  He  Who  gave  us  all  else  would  most 
assuredly  never  have  given  us  this.  It  is  the  fatal  product 
of  our  misused  liberty:  it  is  the  wrong-doing  which  we 


36 


Humility  and  Trtcth. 


[Seem. 


individually  have  contributed  to  increase  the  stock  of  moral 
evil  which  God  for  wise  purposes  permits,  but  which 
nevertheless  is  an  affront  and  a  dishonour  to  Him.  Sin  is 
the  one  thing  which  we  have,  and  which  we  have  not 
received.  Think  well  on  this,  and  you  will  learn  the  spirit 
of  the  fifty-first  Psalm,  which  is  the  essential  spirit  of 
humility.  Make  this  truth  your  own,  and  you  will  under- 
stand the  lines  which  Copernicus  traced  for  his  tomb- 
stone— 

"  Non  parem  Pauli  gratiam  requiro, 
Veniam  Petri  neque  posco,  sed  quam 
In  Cruris  ligno  dederas  latroni 
Sedulus  oro." 

Forget  this ;  and  sooner  or  later  you  will  be  a  Pharisee. 

The  fundamental  thing  in  Pharisaism  was  not  the  sus- 
tained acting  of  a  part  with  a  view  to  keeping  up  appear- 
ances before  the  eyes  of  men ;  it  was  rather  the  fond  claim 
and  boast,  cherished  in  secret  thought,  and  proclaimed  in 
the  ears  of  men,  that  the  religious  position  and  privileges 
of  Israel  were  of  themselves  a  ground  of  merit  and  honour. 1 
Such  a  boast  would  have  been  silenced  if  the  Pharisee  had 
had  any  true  sight  of  an  All-Holy  God,  or  any  accurate 
estimate  of  the  strength  and  variety  of  the  forms  of  moral 
evil  within  himself.  And  when  the  spirit  of  Pharisaism, 
which  lives  on  in  the  human  heart  with  energetic  vitality, 
has  reared  itself  beneath  that  Cross  which  rebukes  all 
human  self-sufficiency,  it  has  been  sustained  by  this  same 
insensibility  to  the  Sanctity  above,  and  to  the  evil  within 
us.  Christian  Pharisaism  is  possible  only  when  men  have 
forgotten  that  they  have  received  all  that  God  can  accept 
hereafter,  and  that  all  that  will  embarrass  and  confound 
them  before  Him  is  indisputably  their  own. 

"  What  hast  thou  that  thou  hast  not  received  ?"  It  is  a 
searching  question;  but  the  true  answer  to  it  ought  to 
leave  us  other  men  than  perchance  we  are;  more  con- 
siderate and  generous  towards  our  fellows,  more  tender 

1  Rom.  ii.  17-20. 


II. J  Humility  and  Truth. 


37 


and  sympathetic,  more  capable  of  making  allowance  for 
difficulties  which  we  have  ourselves  experienced,  or  for 
difficulties  which  we  can  at  least  imagine,  more  slow  to  con- 
demn what  looks  like  evil,  more  eager  to  acknowledge  merit 
and  to  proclaim  superiority,  more  considerate  and  respectful 
when  dealing  with  inferiors,  more  resolute  in  the  endeavour 
to  crush  and  cast  out  the  scorn  and  bitterness  that  wells 
up  too  readily  from  an  unhumble  heart.  It  is  not  easy 
all  this,  but  it  is  humility  in  practice;  and  persevering 
endeavours  after  a  true  self-knowledge,  together  with  con- 
stant recourse  to  a  Higher  Power,  will,  in  God's  good  time, 
help  us  on  our  way.  For  as  the  years  pass,  and  first  one 
friend  and  then  another  is  withdrawn,  and  the  home  circle  is 
so  gradually  narrowed  up  as  to  leave  a  man  almost  alone 
in  his  generation,  and  the  ideals  which  sustained  energy  in 
earlier  life  have  one  by  one  been  broken,  and  the  interests 
which  were  absorbing  have  lost  their  charm  or  have  faded 
quite  away,  and  disease  has  already  laid  its  heavy  hand  on 
this  frame  which  the  spirit  still  tenants ;  there  is  one 
virtue  among  many — pre-eminently  one — that  he  needs  and 
will  need  increasingly, — Eesignation.  Eesignation, — not 
to  a  whirlwind  of  inexorable  forces,  not  to  a  brutal  fate 
or  destiny,  not  to  powers  who  cannot  see  or  hear  or  feel, 
but  to  One  Who  lives  for  ever  and  Who  loves  us  well,  and 
Who  has  given  us  all  that  we  have,  ay,  life  itself,  that 
we  may  at  His  bidding  freely  give  it  back  to  Him.  "  Into 
Thy  Hands  I  commend  my  Spirit ! "  They  are  the  last 
words  of  Christian  Eesignation,  most  majestic  in  its  self- 
content,  most  lowly  in  its  recognition  of  the  fact  that  we 
are  recipients  from  first  to  last ;  they  are  the  last  words  of 
a  Eesignation  which  He  practised  most  perfectly  Who  is 
the  Model  and  Prince  of  the  humble;  Who,  being  the 
Infinite  and  the  Eternal,  "  made  Himself  of  no  reputation, 
and  took  upon  Him  the  form  of  a  servant."1 
1  Phil.  ii.  7. 


SERMON  III. 


IMPORT  OF  FAITH  IN  A  CREATOR, 

(SEPTUAGESIMA  SUNDAY.) 
Gen.  i.  i. 

In  the  beginning  God  created  the  heaven  and  the  earth. 

IT  is  natural  to  inquire  why  we  should  begin  to  read 
the  first  chapter  of  Genesis  on  Septuagesima  Sunday, 
when  the  Christian  year  is  already  some  nine  or  ten  weeks 
old.  And  the  answer  to  that  question  is  not  to  be  found 
in  any  personal  tastes  or  predilections  on  the  part  of 
the  compilers  of  the  Prayer  Book.  In  this,  as  in  much 
else,  they  simply  handed  on  what  they  had  received.  The 
first  chapter  of  Genesis  had  been  for  centuries  read  on 
this  Sunday  at  Matins  in  the  Breviary  of  the  Western 
Church,  before  it  occupied  a  corresponding  place  in  the 
English  Prayer  Book.  It  is  not  altogether  easy  to  say 
how  the  truths  of  the  Christian  Creed  came  to  be  laid 
out  liturgically  in  the  order  which  has  come  down  to  us, 
and  which  extends  over  rather  more  than  half  of  the 
solar  year.  Work  which  in  later  ages  has  been  formally 
undertaken  by  a  Commission  of  Divines  or  by  a  Congre- 
gation of  Rites  was  in  earlier  days  produced  by  some 
prominent  Church  or  by  some  leading  Bishop,  whose  repu- 
tation for  sanctity  or  for  wisdom  ensured  the  assent  of  his 
contemporaries.    In  a  yet  more  primitive  time  liturgical 


Import  of  Faith  in  a  Creator. 


39 


arrangements,  when  they  were  not  suggested  by  the  Older 
Dispensation,  would  seem  to  have  been  arrived  at  in- 
stinctively by  the  Church's  common  spiritual  sense  of 
what  was  due  to  the  truth  she  guarded.  Here  we  see  what 
it  is  that  imparts  so  high  an  interest  to  the  study  of  early 
liturgical  documents.  They  spring  from  the  fresh  soul  of 
early  Christendom;  they  reveal  the  deep  currents  and 
impulses  which  swayed  its  collective  life ;  they  proclaim 
not  merely  the  truths  which  were  held  by  the  Christian 
Church,  but  also  the  moods  and  character  of  the  passion 
with  which  she  pressed  them  to  her  heart. 

The  sudden  change,  then,  from  Isaiah  to  Genesis,  is 
probably  to  be  explained  by  the  consideration  that  on 
Septuagesima  Sunday  we  pass  a  great  dividing  line  in  the 
Church's  year ;  and,  as  the  name  of  the  day  implies,  every- 
thing henceforth  is  relative  to  and  preparatory  for  the 
great  Easter  Festival.  Before  again  considering  those 
stupendous  facts  which  constitute  the  very  heart  and 
centre  of  the  Christian  Creed — the  Passion  and  Resur- 
rection of  the  Incarnate  Son  of  God — we  are  led  to  take 
the  measure  of  our  own  place  in  this  universe,  and  of  our 
relation  to  the  Being  Who  made  it.  We  fall  back  on  these 
elemental  truths  that  we  may  do  justice  to  one  important 
aspect  of  the  Christian  Creed,  as  rilling  up  an  outline, 
and  affording  relief  from  difficulties,  which  natural  religion 
or  elementary  primitive  traditions  cannot  fail  to  suggest. 
A  serious  Theism,  like  a  reverent  study  whether  of  thought 
or  of  nature,  is  a  true  preparation  for  the  Gospel.  To  know 
what  God  is,  and  what  we  are,  is  to  know  truths  which 
will  lead  us  on  to  other  truths  beyond;  it  is  to  have 
found  a  schoolmaster  who,  unless  we  are  unhappily  in- 
genious in  misreading  his  directions,  will,  like  the  Jewish 
law  of  old,  sooner  or  later  bring  us  unto  Christ. 

Wlien  man  looks  out  from  himself  upon  the  wonderful 
home  in  which  he  is  placed,  upon  the  various  orders  of 


4Q 


Import  of  Faith  in  a  Creator.  [Serm. 


living  things  around  him,  upon  the  solid  earth  which  he 
treads,  upon  the  heavens  into  which  he  gazes,  with  such 
ever-varying  impressions,  by  day  and  by  night ;  when  he 
surveys  the  mechanism  of  his  own  bodily  frame,  fashioned 
in  this  precise  shape  and  endowed  with  these  faculties,  with 
these  limbs,  and  no  other  ;  when  he  turns  his  thought,  as 
he  can  turn  it,  in  upon  itself,  and  takes  to  pieces  by  subtle 
analysis  the  beautiful  instrument  which  places  him  in  con- 
scious relation  to  the  universe  around  him, — his  first  and 
last  anxiety  is  to  account  for  the  existence  of  all  that  thus 
interests  him ;  he  must  answer  the  question,  How  and  why 
did  it  come  to  be  ?  Nor  is  this  anxiety  diminished,  much 
less  is  it  destroyed,  when  man  has  become  familiar  with  the 
wonders  around  him;  when  he  has  multiplied  his  oppor- 
tunities for  observing  them,  and  has  catalogued  his  observa- 
tions; when  he  has  apparently  reached  general  truths, 
and  has  tested  them  by  experience,  and  feels  himself  to 
be  making  some  acquaintance  with  his  dwelling-house 
under  the  leadership  of  Science. 

Certainly  Theology,  if  she  understands  her  own  interests, 
can  have  no  wish  to  disparage  or  discountenance  this 
kind  of  knowledge.  She  will  indeed  decline  to  revise 
the  Creed  or  the  Bible  in  deference  to  some  tentative 
hypothesis  which  the  imagination  rather  than  the  positive 
knowledge  of  this  or  that  eminent  writer  may  suggest. 
But  the  mental  habits  which  in  its  higher  moods  physical 
science  encourages  are  all  her  own.  Love  of  positive  truth; 
perseverance  under  difficulties;  intrepid  accuracy — are 
virtues  which  Theology  also  cultivates.  And  she  knows 
that  there  is  a  momentous  problem  near  to  her  heart,  and 
on  which  she  has  much  to  say,  but  which  natural  science 
also  cannot  but  keep  constantly  before  the  mind  of  its 
votaries.  It  is  the  problem  of  the  origin  of  the  Universe. 
For  whatever  be  the  conquests  of  physical  science  in  detail ; 
whatever  amount  of  light  it  may  pour  upon  the  working 


III. 


Import  of  Faith  in  a  Creator.  4 1 


and  structure  of  the  material  world, — all  this  does  not 
dispose  of  the  serious  question,  "  How  and  why  did  this 
vast  system  of  being  come  to  be?"  Science  may  unveil 
in  nature  regular  modes  of  working,  and  name  them  laws ; 
she  may  show  that  effects  supposed  to  be  due  to  some 
immediate  interference  from  above  are  traceable  to  ascer- 
tained agencies  below ;  she  may  substitute,  and  to  a 
degree  beyond  present  anticipations,  some  doctrine  of 
gradually  developed  forms  of  life  for  the  older  belief  in 
permanent  distinctions  between  living  species.  But  the 
great  question  still  awaits  her.  Who  furnished  the  original 
material  for  the  presumed  development  ?  Who  gave  it  the 
first  impact,  who  has  conducted  it  through  the  successive 
stages  of  its  history  ?  Why,  in  short,  do  we  witness  it 
at  all  ? 

Now,  this  question  is  answered  by  the  first  verse  of  the 
Bible,  "  In  the  beginning  God  created  the  heaven  and 
the  earth."  And  that  answer  is  accepted  by  every  believer 
in  the  Christian  Creed  :  "  I  believe  in  One  God,  the  Father 
Almighty,  Maker  of  Heaven  and  Earth,  and  of  all  things 
visible  and  invisible." 

t 

What  is  meant  by  Creation  ?  Nothing  less  than  the 
giving  being  to  that  which  before  was  not.  The  Hebrew 1 
word  which  is  used  to  describe  the  Divine  act  of  giving 
existence  to  the  heavens  and  the  earth  does  not  of  itself 
exclude  the  idea  of  some  pre-existing  material  ready  to  the 
Hand  of  the  Creator.  But  the  text  does  not  allow  us  to 
think  of  any  such  material ;  it  carries  us  back  to  that 

1  which  in  the  Piel  means  to  cut,  hew,  in  Kal  means  always  to 

create.  When  used,  e.g.,  of  the  creation  of  man  (Gen.  i.  27),  or  of  the  new 
heart  of  the  penitent  (Ps.  li.  10),  the  word  doubtless  describes  a  process  of 
making  out  of  something,  but  this  idea  of  pre-existent  material  lies  not  in 
the  word  but  in  the  context. 


42  Import  of  Faith  in  a  Creator.  [Serm. 


primal  act  whereby  something  that  was  not  God  first 
began  to  be.  The  expression  "  the  heavens  and  the  earth" 
is  the  most  exhaustive  phrase  that  the  Hebrews  could 
employ  to  name  the  universe;  the  universe  is  regarded 
as  a  twofold  whole,  consisting  of  very  unequal  parts. 
Writing  for  men,  Moses  writes  as  a  man ;  an  angel  might 
have  described  the  work  of  God  very  differently.  But 
the  moral  importance  of  the  earth,  considered  as  the  scene 
of  man's  probation,  is  a  sufficient  reason  for  the  form 
which  the  phrase  assumes.  The  word  "  heavens  "  includes 
not  merely  the  material  bodies  which  astronomy  has  in 
view,  but  those  immaterial  essences  whose  existence  and 
activity  were  revealed  gradually  to  Israel,  and  who  are, 
as  we  know,  much  more  ancient  than  man.  The  work  of 
the  fourth  "  day,"  or  period,  presupposes  a  creation  of  the 
"heavens,"  since  the  Hebrew  word1  translated  "lights" 
might  be  rendered  "  light  bearers,"  and  might  thus  suggest 
that  the  work  of  that  period  consisted  in  placing  the 
already  existing  heavenly  bodies  in  such  a  complete 
relation  to  the  planet  which  was  to  be  the  abode  of  man 
as  to  influence  its  development. 

How  the  Jews  have  understood  the  first  verse  of  Genesis 
is  sufficiently  notorious.  "  Those,"  says  Maimonides,  "  who 
believe  in  the  laws  of  our'  master  Moses,  hold  that  the 
whole  world,  which  comprehends  everything  except  the 
Creator,  after  being  in  a  state  of  non-existence,  received 
its  existence  from  God,  being  called  into  existence  out 

of  nothing  It  is  a  fundamental  principle  of  our 

law  that  God  created  the  world  from  nothing."  The 
mother  of  the  Maccabean  martyrs,  when  endeavouring  to 

1  is  a  luminous  or  light-bearing  body.     In  Numb.  iv.  9  it  is  used 

of  a  candelabrum.  The  sun  and  moon  already  existed ;  the  work  of  the 
fourth  ' '  day "  may  have  consisted  in  removing  some  intercepting  atmo- 
sphere or  other  cause  which  hitherto  had  prevented  them  from  giving  light 
to  the  earth. 


III.]         Import  of  Faith  in  a  Creator. 


43 


strengthen  her  youngest  son  for  his  last  agony,  bids 
him  look  upon  the  heaven  and  the  earth,  and  all  that 
is  therein,  and  consider  that  God  made  them  out  of 
things  that  were  not. 1  If  the  Alexandrian  author  of  the 
Book  of  Wisdom  speaks  of  God's  making  the  Cosmos  out 
of  shapeless  matter,2  it  does  not  follow  that,  like  Philo 
afterwards,  he  had  so  yielded  to  Platonic  ideas  as  to  sup- 
pose that  matter  was  eternal ;  he  is  speaking  of  God's  later 
creative  action,  which  gave  form  to  matter  that  had  been 
made  before.  Justin  Martyr  uses  the  phrase  in  the  same 
sense;  and  St.  Clement  of  Alexandria  speaks  of  matter 
having  no  relation  to  time,3  not  meaning  that  matter  is 
eternal,  but  that  it  had  been  created  at  a  period  when  there 
were  no  "  times  or  seasons  or  days  or  years."  Tertullian 
holds  that  the  Carthaginian  artist  Hermogenes,  who  pro- 
bably had  never  unlearnt  his  heathen  creed,  really  teaches 
the  existence  of  a  second  God  when  he  asserts  the  eternity 
of  matter :  "  Duos  Deos  infert,"  says  Tertullian,  "  materiam 
parem  Deo  infert."4  And  the  common  sense  of  Christian 
antiquity  is  expressed  in  the  devout  reasoning  of  St.  Augus- 
tine :  "Thou,  0  Lord,  hast  made  heaven  and  earth;  yet 
not  out  of  Thine  own  Substance,  for  then  heaven  and  earth 
would  be  equal  to  Thine  Only  Begotten,  and,  besides 
Thyself,  there  was  nought  else  out  of  which  Thou  couldst 
make  it :  therefore  ha«t  Thou  made  heaven  and  earth  out 
of  nothing." 5 

In  the  Mosaic  account  of  the  Creation  the  sentence 
which  rises  high  above  all  else,  and  compared  with  which 
all  else  is  subordinate  detail,  is  this :  "  In  the  beo-innin^ 
God  created  the  heaven  and  the  earth."  Here  is  a  truth 
which  governs  the  theology  of  the  Old  and  New  Testament. 
It  is  vividly  opposed  to  current  doctrines  in  heathendom, 

1     ovk  6vtuv,  2  Mace.  vii.  28.  2  Wisd.  xi.  17,  e£  d/xopepov  vXrjs. 

3  Photius  attributes  to  him  the  expression  v\rj  axpovos. 

4  Tert.  adv.  Hcrraog.  c.  4.  5  Conf.  xii.  7. 


44  Import  of  Faith  in  a  Creator.  [Serm. 


which  regarded  the  world  as  emanating  from  a  divine 
substance,  or  which  ascribed  all  life  and  living  beings  to 
some  unaccountable  modification  of  primeval  self-existing 
matter,  or  which  took  refuge  from  sterner  thought  in  some 
graceful  or  grotesque  legend,  and  traced  both  gods  and 
men  to  a  world  egg,  or  a  chaos.  It  may  have  influenced 
the  formation  of  some  heathen  cosmogonies,  as  not  im- 
probably that  of  the  Etruscan,  which  is  ascribed  by  Suidas 
to  a  foreign  source,  and  still  more  that  of  the  Zendavesta, 
inspiring  or  shaping  them  through  channels  of  intercourse 
of  which  there  would  have  been  no  lack  when  men  could 
travel  or  think  at  all.  At  the  present  day  the  truth  of 
the  creation  is  confronted  sometimes  indeed  with  avowed 
Atheism,  sometimes  with  systematized  Pantheism,  but 
much  more  generally  and  frequently,  at  least  in  England, 
with  a  habit  of  mind  which  declines  the  question  altogether, 
as  lying  beyond  the  range  of  experience,  and  belonging 
entirely  to  abstract  speculation.  Who  has  not  fallen  in 
with  books  which  to  an  earnest  Theist  or  Christian  again 
and  again  suggest  this  grave  subject,  as  the  necessary  issue 
of  many  a  fruitful  vein  of  thought,  but  in  which,  again  and 
again,  the  Creator  is  significantly  passed  by,  until  at  last 
He  can  be  avoided  no  longer  ?  And  then  we  find  ourselves 
suddenly  enveloped  in  phrases  of  studied,  nay,  of  profound 
reverence;  phrases  in  which  the  writer  bends  before  a 
something  which  is  never  named,  we  know  not — perhaps 
he  knows  not — what.  It  may  be  that  his  purpose  is  to 
make  all  secure  in  case  Theistic  truth  should  turn  out 
to  be  true  after  all ;  it  may  be  that  he  desires,  on  grounds 
of  early  association,  to  stand  well  with  the  millions  who 
still  believe  in  a  Creator ;  it  may  be  that  he  is  endeavour- 
ing to  veil  an  embarrassment  which  inwardly  shrinks  from 
the  whole  subject,  but  which  reflects  that  it  can  lose  nothing 
by  being  graceful. 

As  for  us  Christians,  "  through  faith,  we  understand  that 


III.] 


Import  of  Faith  in  a  Creator. 


45 


the  universe  was  framed  by  the  word  of  God,  so  that  it 
was  not  out  of  things  that  are  apparent  to  the  senses  that 
the  visible  world  came  into  existence."  1  Creation  is  a 
mystery,  eminently  satisfactory  to  reason,  but  strictly  be- 
yond it.  Nothing  within  the  range  of  our  experience 
enables  us  to  understand  the  process  of  calling  beings  into 
existence  out  of  nothing.  We  men  can  do  much  in  the 
way  of  modifying  and  controlling  existing  matter.  But  we 
cannot  create  the  minutest  particle  of  it.  That  God  sum- 
moned it  into  being  is  a  truth  which  we  believe  on  God's 
authority,  but  which  we  never  can  verify.  If,  as  is 
probable,  the  Mosaic  cosmogony  is  much  older  than  Moses, 
and  was  embodied  in  the  Thorah  as  being  a  primeval 
revelation,  still  it  must  have  been,  to  whomever  given, 
strictly  a  revelation.  No  created  being  can  have  witnessed 
the  act  by  which  the  Creator  ended  the  solitariness  of 
His  Eternity,  and  surrounded  Himself  with  forms  of  de- 
pendent life.  And  that  which  it  is  now  important  to  insist 
on,  is  the  practical  value  of  this  belief  in  Creation;  its 
value  in  thought  and  its  value  in  practice. 

II 

Belief  in  the  creation  of  the  universe  out  of  nothing 
is  the  only  account  of  its  origin  which  is  compatible  with 
belief  in  a  personal  and  moral  God. 

Mankind  may  conceive,  has  conceived,  of  the  relation 
between  the  universe  or  world  and  a  higher  Power  in  four 

o 

1  In  Heb.  xi.  3  e/c  y.r\  {paivnfxlvuv  is  understood  by  St.  Chrysostom  and  Theo- 
doret  to  mean  "out  of  nothing."  If  by  "nothing"  is  meant  "nothing 
material,"  the  sense  thus  yielded  is  indisputable,  though  not  that  which  the 
word  suggests.  The  /av;  (paivo/meva  are  the  Divine  ideas  from  which  the  visible 
universe  sprang  into  being,  and  which  were  drawn  from  their  seclusion  in 
the  Divine  Mind  by  the  act  of  creation.  A  fundamental  doctrine  of  the 
Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  is  that  there  is  an  archetypal  heavenly  world, 
containing  the  types  and  ideas  of  this  (Heb.  viii.  5).  Compare  Delitzsch, 
Hcbracrbr.  in  loc. 


46  Import  of  Faith  in  a  Creator.  [Seem. 


different  ways.1  Either  God  is  a  creation  of  the  world — 
that  is  to  say,  of  the  thinking  part  of  it — or  God  and  the 
world  are  really  identical ;  or  God  and  the  world,  although 
distinct,  are  co-existent ;  or  God  has  created  the  world  out 
of  nothing. 

Now  if  God  is  a  product  of  the  human  and  thinking 
world ;  if  He  is  produced  by  and  only  exists  in  the  thought 
or  the  imagination  of  a  certain  section  of  the  inhabitants  of 
this  planet,  He  is  on  a  par  with  any  other  pure  hypothesis. 
You  may  pay  compliments  to  a  creation  of  the  human 
mind,  or  you  may  dislike  and  denounce  it  as  mischievous 
and  superstitious ;  but  in  either  case  you  do  not  mistake 
it  for  something  which  it  is  not.  Whatever  may  be  the 
popular  power  of  what  you  know  to  be  only  a  form  of 
current  opinion,  you  do  not  reckon  with  it  as  if  it  were  a 
substantial  or  living  thing  when  you  think  or  act.  Your 
loyalty  to  truth  naturally  leads  you  to  dismiss  somewhat 
impatiently  a  phantom  which  might  well  have  daunted 
the  childhood  of  our  race,  but  which  has  no  business  to  flit 
about  the  brain  of  its  manhood.  If  instead  of  believing 
in  God,  the  Father  Almighty,  Maker  of  heaven  and  earth, 
you  believe  in  the  human  mind  as  the  maker  of  God,  the 
conclusion  is  obvious.  If  God  is  not  a  real  objective  Being, 
apprehended  by  man's  thought,  but  Himself  utterly  in- 
dependent of  such  apprehension,  then  it  follows  that  the 
universe  is  self-existent,  and  that  it  alone  exists.  A  purely 
subjective  deity  is  in  truth  no  deity  at  all. 

If,  again,  God  and  the  world  are  two  names  for  the 
same  thing ;  if  the  universe  is  only  the  self-development 
of  the  Infinite,  and  man  only  that  point  in  its  self-evolution 
at  which  the  Infinite  attains  self-consciousness  ;  then  surely 
we  are  playing  with  words  in  giving  to  this  "  Infinite " 
the  solemn  name  of  God.  This  Infinite  is  not  God  in  the 
sense  of  the  Bible ;  it  is  not  God  in  the  sense  of  the  human 

1  I  owe  thi3  method  of  stating  the  problem  to  Dr.  Pusey. 


III.  J         Import  of  Faith  in  a  Creator.  47 


heart.  The  name  is  retained;  the  reality  has  vanished 
just  as  truly  as  in  the  blankest  Atheism.  For  such  a 
deity  is  neither  personal  nor  moral.  He  is  not  personal, 
since  he  lacks  the  first  elements  of  personality :  he  is  not 
an  individual  free-will  or  a  self-consciousness ;  he  is  only 
a  force  which,  for  some  unexplained  reason,  ultimately 
becomes  self-conscious  in  a  number  of  thinking  subjects. 
The  philosophy  which  cradles  him  is  intolerant  of  the  very 
idea  of  personality.  And,  apart  from  the  difficulties  of 
supposing  morality  in  an  impersonal  subject,  this  deity  is 
not  moral,  because  he  is,  by  the  hypothesis,  identified  with 
all  that  is  done  by  all  the  agents  in  the  universe.  The 
revealed  belief  in  the  Divine  Omnipresence,  which  sees 
God  everywhere,  and  therefore  recognises  His  upholding 
Hand  in  the  evil  beings  which  war  against  Himself,  is  yet 
ever  careful  to  distinguish  between  the  perverted  will,  in 
whose  activity  alone  evil  is  resident,  and  the  action  of  the 
All-holy  Creator.  This  last  distinction  is  annihilated  by 
the  philosophy  which  identifies  its  god  with  the  universe; 
and  the  necessary  consequence  is  the  annihilation  of 
morality.  Murder  and  adultery  become  manifestations  of 
the  life  of  the  Infinite  One  as  truly  and  in  the  same  sense 
as  benevolence  or  veracity. 

But  if,  to  avoid  this  revolting  blasphemy,  we  suppose 
God  and  the  world  to  be  distinct,  yet  eternally  co-existent, 
do  we  thereby  secure  in  human  thought  a  place  for  a 
moral  and  personal  God  ?  Surely  not.  For  this  last 
hypothesis  involves  a  sacrifice  of  that  which  lies  at  the 
base  of  any  real  idea  of  God  in  our  minds  at  all,  namely, 
His  solitary  self-existence.  If  the  universe  had,  from 
eternity,  co-existed  along  with  Him,  though  it  were  only 
as  force  and  matter,  so  that  the  gradual  elaboration  of  form 
and  life  was  still  reserved  to  Him,  as  being:  within  these 
limits  the  all-controlling  A^ent,  He  would  have  been  a 
different  being  from  God.     A  second  self-existence  is 


48  Import  of  Faith  in  a  Creator,  [Serm. 


a  supposition  which  annihilates  God.  God  has  ceased  to 
be  if  we  are  right  in  imagining  that  there  never  was 
a  time  when  something  else  did  not  exist  independently 
of  Him.  In  the  theogony  of  Hesiod  it  was  possible  to 
conceive  of  the  gods  as  coming  into  existence  at  the  same 
time  as  the  world ;  but  then  God,  in  the  Christian  and 
Theistic  sense,  was  not  even  conceived  of,  and  the  Greek 
mythologists  do  not  attempt  to  account  seriously  for  the 
origin  of  the  universe.  The  supposition  before  us  belongs 
in  fact  to  a  transitional  stage  of  thought,  when  men  are 
provisionally  attempting  intellectual  compromises  which 
cannot  be  permanently  maintained.  It  necessarily  throws 
us  back  upon  a  universe  without  a  God,  Who  transcends 
while  He  sustains  it  in  being,  or  upon  a  universe  which  is 
itself  God ;  it  leads  inevitably  to  Atheism  or  Pantheism ; 
it  renders  any  serious  belief  in  God  impossible. 

It  is  necessary,  then,  to  believe  in  the  creation  of  the 
universe  out  of  nothing  if  we  are  to  believe  also  in  God's 
self-existent,  personal,  moral  Life.    But  this  faith  in  God's 
original  act  of  creation  does  not  exclude  belief  in  some 
subsequent  modification  of  His  works  through  a  progressive 
development,  guided  by  more  or  less  ascertainable  law. 
The  assertion  of  a  recent  writer,  that  the  Jews  failed 
to  understand  the  full  significance  of  creation  because  i 
Judaism  the  world  is  regarded  as  creatura,  not  as  natura 
as  KTLcrig,  not  as  (pv<ri<},  can  only  be  understood  of  late 
Jewish  tradition.    It  is  inapplicable  to  the  language  of  th 
Bible.    Certainly  the  Biblical  account  of  the  creation  0 
light  and  of  the  animals  stands  in  sharp  contrast  to  the  Gree 
conceptions  of  life  and  freedom  fighting  out  their  wa 
by  their  own  inherent  powers  from  among  the  blind  force 
of  nature  ;  but  the  narrative  of  Moses  includes  a  cosmogon 
as  well  as  a  creation :  it  describes  modifications  of  existin 
matter  as  well  as  the  creative  act  which  summoned  it  int 
being.    The  recognition  of  God's  continuous  working 


III.] 


Import  of  Faith  in  a  Creator. 


49 


nature,  in  the  form  and  according  to  the  methods  of  law, 
is  not  a  concession  which  has  been  wrung  from  theology 
by  the  advance  of  science.  In  a  remarkable  passage, 
where  he  is  describing  the  opinions  which  may  be  held 
respecting  the  creative  activity  of  God,  Peter  Lombard1 
employs  terms  which  almost  read  like  a  tentative  antici- 
pation of  Dr.  Darwin's  doctrine  of  the  origin  of  species ; 
although  of  course  the  Master  of  the  Sentences,  with  his 
eye  on  the  text  of  Genesis,  would  have  often  hesitated 
or  demurred  where  the  modern  physicist  is  confident  or 
aggressive. 

But,  even  if  we  could  reasonably  and  religiously  carry 
evolutionist  theories  so  far  as  to  trace  back  all  living  beings 
to  some  germ  or  monad,  the  real  question — the  question  of 
questions — would  still  confront  us.  How  did  the  monad, 
whose  development  we  can,  as  we  may  think,  trace 
through  successive  stages  of  self-expansion,  ever  originally 
come  to  be  ?  And  upon  the  answer  to  this  question 
depends  nothing  less  than  a  man's  belief  in  the  Being 
Who,  if  He  exists  at  all,  must  have  infinitely  more  im- 
portant claims  on  our  attention  than  any  one  of  the 
creatures  which  He  has  made,  or  than  all  of  them  together. 

Again,  belief  in  the  creation  of  the  universe  by  God  out 
of  nothing  naturally  leads  on  to  belief  in  God's  continuous 
Providence,  and  Providence  in  turn,  considering  the  depth 
of  man's  moral  misery,  suggests  Eedemption.  Xo  such 
anticipation  would  be  reasonable,  if  we  could  suppose  that 
the  world  emanated  from  a  passive  God,  or  that,  per 
impossibile,  it  had  existed  side  by  side  with  Him  from 
everlasting.    But  if  He  created  it  in  His  freedom,  the 

1  Sentent.  lib.  ii.  distinct,  xv.  :  "  Qusedam  vero  non  formaliter  seel 
materialiter  tunc  facta  f uisse,  quse  post  per  temporis  accessura  formaliter 
distincta  sunt ;  ut  herbae,  arbores,  et  forte  animalia.  Omnia  ergo,  in  ipso 
temporis  initio  facta  esse  dicunt ;  sed  qusedam  formaliter  et  secundam 
species  quas  habere  cernimus,  ut  majores  mundi  partes  ;  quoedam  verb 
materialiter  tantum." 

D 


5<d  Import  of  Faith  in  a  Creator.  [Serm. 


question  will  inevitably  be  asked,  why  did  He  create  it  ? 
Could  it  add  anything  to  His  Infinite  Blessedness  and 
Glory  ?  could  it  make  Him  more  powerful,  more  happy, 
more  wise  ?  Revelation  answers  the  question,  by  ascribing 
creation  to  that  attribute  of  God  which  leads  Him  to 
communicate  His  life;  that  generous  attribute  which  is 
goodness  in  its  relation  to  the  irrational  and  inanimate 
universe,  and  love  in  its  relation  to  personal  beings. 
"  I  have  loved  thee  with  an  everlasting  love,  therefore 
with  loving-kindness  have  I  drawn  thee."1  But  if  love 
or  goodness  was  the  true  motive  for  creation,  it  implies 
God's  continuous  interest  in  created  life.  If  love  urged 
God  to  reveal  Himself  by  His  work  under  finite  con- 
ditions— and  both  David  and  St.  Paul  insist  upon  the 
high  significance  of  creation  as  an  unveiling  of  the  hidden 
life  of  God — surely  love  might  urge  Him  to  reveal  Himself 
yet  more  distinctly  under  finite  conditions,  as  "  manifest  in 
the  flesh."2  The  formula  that  "time  has  no  meaning  for 
God,"  is  sometimes  used  even  by  writers  of  consideration, 
in  senses  which  are  incompatible  with  the  idea  of  creation. 
If  it  is  not  beneath  God's  dignity  to  create  a  finite  world 
at  all,  it  is  not  beneath  His  dignity  to  accept  the  con- 
sequences of  His  work ;  to  take  part  in  the  development 
of  His  creatures ;  to  subject  Himself,  in  some  sense,  to 
the  conditions  imposed  by  His  original  act.  If  in  His 
knowledge  He  necessarily  anticipates  the  development  of 
His  work,  so  that  to  Him  a  "  thousand  years  are  as 
one  day;"3  by  His  love,  on  the  other  hand,  which  led  Him 
to  move  out  of  Himself  in  creation  at  the  first,  He  travails 
with  the  slow  onward  movement  of  the  world  and  of 
humanity ;  and  His  Incarnation  in  time,  when  demanded 
by  the  supreme  needs  of  the  creatures  of  His  hand,  is 
in  a  line  with  that  first  of  mysteries,  His  deigning  to 
create  at  all.  For  thus,  God  having  created  the  rational 
and  human  world,  so  loved  it,  that  He  gave  His  only 

1  Jer.  xxxi.  3.  -  1  Tim.  iii.  16.  8  2  Peter  iii.  8. 


III.]         Import  of  Faith  in  a  Creator. 


5i 


begotten  Son,  that  whosoever  believeth  on  Him  should  not 
perish,  but  have  everlasting  life. 1 

Of  this  property  of  the  Life  of  God  there  is  on  earth 
one  most  beautiful  and  instructive  shadow — the  love  of 
a  parent  for  his  child.  That  love  is  the  most  disin- 
terested, the  purest,  if  not  the  strongest  of  human  passions. 
The  parent  hopes  for  nothing  from  his  child ;  yet  he  will 
work  for  it,  suffer  for  it,  die  for  it.  If  you  ask  the  reason, 
it  is  because  he  has  been  the  means  of  bringing  it  into 
existence.  Certainly,  if  it  lives,  it  may  support  and  com- 
fort him  in  his  old  age ;  but  that  is  not  the  motive  of  his 
anxious  care.  He  feels  the  glory  and  the  responsibility 
of  fatherhood ;  and  this  leads  him  to  do  what  he  can  for 
the  helpless  infant  which  depends  on  him.  Our  Lord 
appeals  to  this  parental  instinct  when  He  teaches  us  the 
efficacy  of  prayer.  If  men,  evil  as  they  are,  give  good 
gifts  unto  their  children,  how  much  more  shall  not  a 
moral  God — your  heavenly  Father — give  the  best  of  gifts, 
His  Holy  Spirit,  to  them  that  ask  Him. 2  But  in  truth  the 
principle  is  of  wider  application ;  and  it  explains  how  it 
was  that  "  the  philanthropy  and  love  of  God  our  Saviour 
toward  man  appeared,  when,  not  by  works  of  righteous- 
ness which  we  had  done,  but  according  to  His  mercy,  He 
saved  us."3 

Belief  in  creation  indeed  must  govern  the  whole  reli- 
gious thought  of  a  consistent  believer.  It  answers  many 
a  priori  difficulties  as  to  the  existence  of  miracle,  since 
the  one  supreme,  inexplicable  miracle,  compared  with 
which  all  others  are  insignificant,  is  already  admitted.  It 
precludes  difficulties  on  the  score  of  the  condescension  of 
God  in  the  Incarnation,  in  the  Crucifixion,  in  the  Sacra- 
ments ;  for  the  greatest  condescension  of  all  was  the  act 
which  at  the  first  summoned  creatures  into  being.  If  the 
doctrine  of  final  causes  be  discredited  for  a  while  in  this 
or  that  region  of  human  thought,  it  will  reassert  its  claims 

J  St.  John  iii.  16.     2  St.  Matt.  vii.  11.    St.  Luke  xi.  13.     3  Tit.  iii.  4,  J. 


5  2  Import  of  Faith  in  a  Creator.  [Serm. 


in  a  higher  atmosphere.  The  creation  of  the  world  by  a 
free,  personal,  living  God,  cannot  be  contemplated  apart 
from  such  a  doctrine ;  and  reason  is  already  prepared  for 
the  statements  of  Scripture,  that  God's  own  Glory,  His  own 
Being  or  Self,  was,  as  it  could  not  but  be  in  the  case  of 
the  Supreme,  His  own  end  in  creating. 1  And  thus  creation 
prepares  us  to  see  a  purpose,  whether  fully  or  partially 
discernible,  running  through  the  whole  course  of  human 
history,  and  we  find  it  easy  to  understand  that  every  single 
human  soul — as  its  life  lies  out  in  all  the  complexity 
of  movement  and  will  and  passion,  before  the  All- Seeing 
One — is  to  Him  a  matter  of  the  tenderest  concern,  so  that 
each  one  of  the  sons  of  men  mio^ht  exclaim  with  the 
Apostle,  "  He  loved  me,  and  gave  Himself  for  me."2 

Once  more,  belief  in  Creation  is  of  high  moral  value. 
Such  a  belief  keeps  a  man  in  his  right  place ;  it  is  not 
less  powerful  in  controlling  his  secret  thought  than  his  out- 
ward action.  The  disinclination  to  be  under  an  obligation 
is  always  more  or  less  natural  to  us,  and  it  is  particularly 
natural  to  those  who  are  in  rude  health  and  high  spirits,  who 
have  never  yet  known  anything  of  real  sorrow  or  of  acute 
disease.  It  grows  with  that  jealous  sentiment  of  personal 
independence  which  belongs  to  an  advanced  civilization ; 
and  if  it  is  distantly  allied  to  one  or  two  of  the  better 
elements  of  human  character,  it  is  more  closely  connected 
with  others  that  are  base  and  unworthy.  The  Eastern 
emperor  executed  the  courtier  who,  by  saving  his  life,  had 
done  him  a  service  which  could  never  be  forgotten,  perhaps 
never  repaid ;  but  this  is  only  an  extreme  illustration  of 
what  may  be  found  in  the  feelings  of  everyday  life.  A 
darker  example  of  the  same  tendency  is  seen  in  the  case  of 
men  who  have  wished  a  father  in  his  grave,  not  on  account 
of  any  misunderstanding,  not  from  a  coarse  desire  of 
succeeding  to  the  family  property,  but  because  in  the 
father  the  son  saw  a  person  to  whom  he  owed  not  education 

1  Prov.  xvi.  4.  2  Gal.  ii.  20. 


III.]         Import  of  Faith  in  a  Creator. 


merely,  but  his  birth  into  the  world,  and  felt  that  so  vast 
a  debt  made  him  morally  insolvent  so  long  as  his  creditor 
lived. 

If  men  are  capable  of  such  feeling  towards  each  other, 
we  can  understand  much  that  characterizes  their  thought 
about  and  action  towards  God.  By  His  very  Existence  He 
seems  to  inflict  upon  them  a  perpetual  humiliation.  To 
feel  day  by  day,  hour  by  hour,  that  there  is  at  any  rate 
One  Being  before  "Whom  they  are  as  nothing ;  to  Whom 
they  owe  originally,  and  moment  by  moment,  all  that 
they  are  and  have ;  Who  so  holds  them  in  His  Hand  that 
no  human  parallel  can  convey  a  sense  of  the  completeness 
of  their  dependence  upon  His  good  pleasure ;  and  against 
Whose  decisions  they  have  neither  plea  nor  remedy : — this 
they  cannot  bear.  Yet  if  God  exists,  this,  and  nothing  less 
than  this,  is  strictly  true.  The  truth  is  not  diminished  by 
any  of  the  intellectual  projects  whereby  men  instinctively 
endeavour  to  lessen  the  sense  of  an  overwhelming  obligation. 
Evolution  implies  an  original  impulse ;  physical  law  im- 
plies a  Lawgiver ;  God  is  recalled  to  human  thought  by 
the  expedients  which  man  invents  that  he  may  hide  out  of 
sight  the  mighty,  all-including,  all-conferring  activity  of 
the  Creator.  After  all,  brethren,  "  it  is  He  that  hath  made 
us,  and  not  we  ourselves."1  Xot  we  ourselves.  Of  course 
we  never  should  say  in  so  many  words  that  we  were  our 
own  creators ;  but  we  may  morally  assume  it.  We  may 
ignore  the  One  Being  Who  made  us  and  all  besides,  and 
Who  will  judge  us  :  we  may  forget  Him  so  entirely  as  to 
live  as  if  He  did  not  exist  at  all.  Thousands  do  so  forget 
Him :  it  is  written  on  their  lives  that  they  have  no  notion 
that  they  have  a  Maker  to  think  about  and  to  live  for. 
Yet,  even  if  such  forgetfulness  had  no  lasting  consequences, 
it  were  surely  better  to  be  true — true  to  the  real  law  of  this 
universe,  true  to  a  truth  which  alone  can  keep  us  in  our 
proper  place,  of  humble,  submissive,  resigned,  obedient, 

1  Ps.  C.  2. 


Import  of  Faith  in  a  Creator. 


yet  withal  hopeful  and  thankful  and  diligent  service.  The 
service  of  the  Great  Creator  may  well  be  hopeful  and  thank- 
ful, for  a  moral  God  will  not  despise  the  work  of  His  own 
hands,  and  Creation  leads  up  to  Eedemption. 

A  traveller  in  Cornwall,  when  gazing  at  the  masses  of 
granite  rock  which  defy,  and  look  as  if  they  might  defy 
for  ever,  the  continuous  onset  of  the  Atlantic,  has  ex- 
pressed a  thought  which  comes  to  most  men  at  some 
time  in  their  lives.  The  magnificence  and  the  awe  of 
nature  fills  him  with  an  oppressive  sense  of  the  relative 
insignificance  of  man.  A  few  years  hence  and  he  will  be 
beneath  the  sod ;  but  those  cliffs  will  stand,  as  now,  facing 
the  Ocean,  incessantly  lashed  by  its  waves,  yet  unshaken, 
immoveable ;  and  other  eyes  will  gaze  on  them  for  their 
brief  day  of  life,  and  then  they  too  will  close.  Yes,  at  first 
sight  man  is  insignificant  when  thus  confronted  with  ex- 
ternal nature.  The  purely  material  world  seems  to  have 
more  in  common  than  we  with  the  unchanging  and  everlast- 
ing years  of  the  Great  Creator.  Yet  we  know  that  it  is  not 
so.  In  reality  the  rocks  are  less  enduring  than  man.  Each 
man's  personal  self  will  still  survive  for  weal  or  woe,  when 
another  catastrophe  shall  have  utterly  changed  the  surface 
of  this  planet,  and  the  elements  shall  have  melted  with 
fervent  heat,  and  the  earth  also  and  all  things  that  are 
therein  shall  have  been  burnt  up.1  Let  us  think  of  that 
day,  warranted  by  His  Word,  Who  has  made  all  that  we  see. 
It  may  be  deferred  for  ages,  but  it  will  surely  come  at  last; 
it  will  not  tarry.2  Practically  speaking,  there  are  for 
each  one  of  us  two  supreme  realities — God  and  the  soul. 
The  heavens  and  the  earth  will  pass  away.  But  the  soul 
will  still  remain,  face  to  face  with  God ;  and  the  Word  of 
the  Creator,  His  Word  of  Mercy,  as  well  as  His  Word 
of  Justice,  will  not  pass  away.3 

1  2  St.  Peter  iii.  12,  13.         2  Hab.  ii.  3.        3  I  St.  Peter  i.  24,  25. 


SERMON  IV. 


WORTH  OF  FAITH  IX  A  LIFE  TO  COME. 
Rev.  vii.  9,  10. 

I  beheld,  and  lo,  a  great  multitude,  which  no  man  could  number,  of  all 
nations,  and  kindreds,  and  people,  and  tongues,  stood  before  the  throne, 
and  before  the  Lamb,  clothed  with  white  robes,  and  palms  in  their 
hands;  and  cried  with  a  loud  voice,  saying,  Salvation  to  our  God  Which 
sittcth  upon  the  throne,  and  unto  the  Lamb. 

AS  a  man  passes  into  middle  life,  or  beyond  it,  autumn, 
it  has  been  said,  whispers  more  to  his  soul  than  any 
other  season  of  the  natural  year.  It  is  not  difficult  to  see 
why  this  should  be,  if  it  be,  the  case.  The  few  hours  of 
sunlight,  the  generally  beclouded  sky,  as 

"  Chill  and  dun, 
Falls  on  the  moor  the  brief  November  day,"1 

the  cold  damp  atmosphere,  the  sense  of  advanciug  collapse 
and  dissolution  which  the  withered  and  decaying  leaf 
everywhere  suggests,  and  the  knowledge  that,  as  the  days 
succeed  each  other,  the  season  will  pass  into  a  yet  deeper 
gloom — these  features  of  November  dispose  us  to  think 
of  the  close  of  human  life,  and  of  the  world  which  follows 
it.  And  the  Church,  with  her  fine  practical  instinct, 
seems  to  have  made  the  most  of  such  characteristics 
of  the  month  as  these,  by  placing  at  its  commencement 
the  festival  which  guides  our  thoughts  upwards  to  the 

1  Christian  Year,  Twenty-third  Sunday  after  Trinity. 


56        Worth  of  Faith  in  a  Life  to  come.  [Serm. 


home  of  all  the  Saints  in  glory,  and  by  closing  it  with 
Advent  Sunday, — that  yearly  anticipation  of  the  great  day 
of  doom,  when  all  that  belongs  to  the  present  order  of 
things  here  below  will  finally  pass  away. 

Let  us  then  endeavour  to  bring  our  thoughts  into  some 
sort  of  harmony  with  the  time  of  year  by  considering  a 
commonplace  but  always  important  subject,  namely,  the 
value  of  a  serious  belief  in  a  life  to  come.  Time  was,  and 
that  not  long  past,  when  it  might  have  been  deemed  need- 
less, and  even  inexpedient,  to  insist  upon  such  a  topic  as  this. 
But  none  who  know  what  is  being  said  and  written  in  our 
midst  will  be  of  this  opinion  now.  The  reality  of  a  life 
after  death  is  nowadays  discussed,  and  indeed  disputed,  in 
popular  reviews  and  in  general  society ;  and  one  con- 
sequence of  such  indiscriminate  discussion,  upon  a  not 
inconsiderable  number  of  minds,  is  too  patent  and  too 
serious  to  be  overlooked.  Men  are  endeavouring  to 
persuade  themselves  that,  whether  true  or  false,  the 
doctrine  of  a  life  to  come  may  be  treated  as  a  purely 
speculative  question,  which  has  no  necessary  or  indispen- 
sable relation  to  our  present  life  and  its  duties.  Whether 
we  exist  after  death  or  not,  this  life  at  any  rate,  they 
argue,  may  be  viewed  as  a  thing  complete  in  itself :  we 
may  live  it,  and  make  the  most  of  it,  without  committing 
ourselves  too  definitely  to  any  hypothesis  as  to  what  will 
or  will  not  follow  it.  This  life,  they  think,  needs  no  motives 
drawn  from  the  imagery  of  a  distant  world  or  of  a  super- 
sensuous  future;  it  can  dispense  with  all  stimulants  to 
action  or  to  self-control  which  it  does  not  of  itself  suggest. 
A  physical  basis  has  been  provided  for  morals  which 
renders  them  independent  of  any  theological  sanction  ;  or, 
at  least,  a  ground  has  been  cleared  for  so  much  morality  as 
is  really  wanted  upon  a  common-sense  estimate  of  human 
existence.  And  for  the  rest,  human  society  is  no  longer 
young;  it  has  now  had  time  for  a  great  deal  of  varied 


IV.]      Worth  of  Faith  in  a  Life  to  come.  57 

experience ;  and  it  may  be  trusted  to  take  care  of  itself, 
and  to  guard  the  lives  and  property  of  its  members  by  the 
resources  which  are  at  the  command  of  law.  This  being 
so,  it  is  contended,  the  question  of  a  future  life  may  be 
postponed ;  it  cannot  be  considered  urgent ;  although,  no 
doubt,  it  will  always  be  interesting  to  speculative  minds 
of  a  certain  type,  and  will  at  least  take  rank  with  the 
inquiry  whether  the  planets  are  inhabited,  and  by  what 
kind  of  creatures. 

Here  then  we  have  to  consider  the  question  what  it  is 
that  faith  in  a  life  to  come  does,  or  in  reason  oudit  to  do, 
for  the  man  who  seriously  entertains  it.  And  in  order  to 
limit  the  subject,  I  will  not  enter  upon  the  connected 
topics  of  a  judgment  which  awaits  us,  or  of  the  sterner  side 
of  that  doctrine  of  the  future  life  which  natural  reason 
suggests  and  which  the  Christian  Faith  so  distinctly  pro- 
claims. Let  us  think  to-day  of  the  prospect  of  sharing  in  a 
sublime  and  blessed  existence  such  as  is  portrayed  in  the 
text  of  the  Apocalypse  before  us,  and  let  us  ask  ourselves 
whether  it  should  or  should  not  make  any  difference  in 
our  present  state  of  being. 

L 

First,  then,  reflect  upon  the  importance  to  every  think- 
ing agent  of  forming  an  accurate  estimate  of  his  powers,  of 
taking  a  true  measure  of  himself.  It  is  fatal  enough,  we 
all  of  us  know,  and  it  is  not  uncommon,  to  think  that  we 
are  of  more  importance,  cleverer,  wiser,  better,  than  we  are. 
This  is  a  mistake  as  to  the  nature  of  which  the  Gospel  and 
the  social  common  sense  of  man  are  entirely  agreed.  But 
it  is  only  less  fatal  not  to  recognise  the  powers  and 
opportunities  which  God  has  really  given  us,  and  to  bury 
in  a  napkin  some  talent  which  is  part  of  the  endowment 
of  our  being.     In  this,  as  in  all  other  matters,  simple 


Worth  of  Faith  in  a  Life  to  come.  [Serm. 


truthfulness  is  of  the  first  importance.  And  life  is  worthily- 
lived  when  a  man  has  ascertained  what  his  stock  of  capa- 
cities really  are,  and  has  resolved,  God  helping  him,  to 
make  the  best  of  them. 

Thus,  then,  it  is  plain  that  the  question  whether  we 
exist  or  not  after  death  challenges  attention  on  utilita- 
rian grounds.  It  enters  directly  into  any  serious  estimate 
of  what  is  meant  by  human  life,  and  to  form  such  an 
estimate  cannot  be  other  than  a  matter  of  the  first  practical 
importance  to  all  of  us.  Tor  man  as  a  moral  being  is  a 
workman,  working  at  himself;  and  a  workman  must  know 
what  he  has  to  handle  if  he  is  to  do  his  work  well. 
What  is  this  creature  for  the  improvement  of  which  we 
are  each  of  us  responsible  ?  You  and  I  find  ourselves  at 
this  moment  endowed  with  the  blessed  but  awful  preroga- 
tive of  life.  There  was  no  necessity  for  our  existing,  and 
yet  here  we  are.  We  may  indeed  pass  days,  weeks,  months, 
years,  without  reflecting  on  what  it  is  to  live.  But  there 
are  times,  I  believe,  in  almost  every  life,  when  thought  is 
turned  back  upon  itself,  by  some  shock  or  sorrow,  and  when 
a  man  stands  consciously  face  to  face  with  the  dread 
mystery  of  his  own  existence.  What  is  it  that  we  mean 
by  that  which  each  of  us  terms  so  lightly  "I;"  that  inner 
being  which  thinks  and  feels  and  acts ;  which  knows  that 
it  thinks  and  feels  and  acts ;  which  determines  its  thought 
and  its  feeling  and  its  action  ?  What  is  this  essence,  the 
seat  of  reflection  and  memory  and  will,  which,  although  far 
removed  from  the  touch  -of  sense,  is  yet  everywhere  present 
behind  the  senses ;  which  looks  out  from  itself  upon  the 
beings  and  things  around  it,  and  knows  itself  to  be  utterly 
distinct  from  each  and  all  of  them  ?  This  inner  essence  is 
a  fact;  it  is  at  least *as  recognisable  a  fact  as  some  lump  of 
matter  which  lies  passive  and  helpless  as  you  handle  it. 
It  is  not  less  a  fact,  because  it  is  endowed  with  the  pre- 
rogative of  being  conscious  that  it  is  what  it  is ;  and  we 


IV.]     Worth  of  Faith  in  a  Life  to  come.  59 


ask,  what  is  it  worth,  both  in  itself  and  as  compared 
with  things  and  beings  around  it  ?  how  long  will  it  last  ? 
why  is  it  here  ?  whither  is  it  going  ?  what  is  its  origin  ? 
what  its  destiny  ? 

We  are  told  that  the  difference  between  belief  and  dis- 
belief in  a  life  after  death  is  only  a  difference  between  two 
theories  about  the  relation  of  human  nature  to  a  remote 
future,  and  to  an  abstract  conception  of  existence.  Two 
theories !  My  brethren,  there  are  theories  and  theories. 
There  are  theories,  no  doubt,  high  up  in  the  air  of  specu- 
lation which  do  not  touch,  ever  so  lightly,  the  practical 
interests  of  human  beings.  But  there  are  also  theories 
which  are  not  thus  remote  and  ornamental;  theories 
the  subjects  of  which  penetrate  the  very  bone  aud 
marrow,  the  inmost  recesses  of  our  life,  so  that,  if  we 
would,  we  cannot  detach  and  thrust  them  from  us,  and 
affect  towards  them  the  polite  indifference  which  may 
be  awarded  to  purely  abstract  speculations.  In  fact,  we  do 
not  think  or  speak  of  them  as  theories ;  we  call  them  by 
the  graver  name  of  doctrines.  As  doctrines  they  are  for 
us  either  true  or  false ;  if  false,  then  in  varying  degrees 
mischievous  falsehoods;  if  true,  then  very  solemn  and 
momentous  truths.  And  surely  this  question,  whether  we 
become  extinct  at  death  or  exist  continuously  after  it,  in 
a  higher  and  freer  form  of  life,  comes  too  directly  home 
to  every  human  being  to  be  discussed,  as  our  neighbours 
would  say,  academically  ;  as  if  forsooth  it  were  only  to 
be  thought  of  as  furnishing  opportunity  for  skilful  fencing 
between  one  set  of  intellectual  combatants  and  another. 

If,  when  a  man  tries  to  take  stock  of  his  existence,  he  says 
to  himself,  "  I  am  a  higher  sort  of  animal,  who  will  certainly 
have  ceased  to  exist  altogether  in  the  course  of  some  twenty 
or  thirty  years,"  then  he  will  probably  do  the  best  that  can 
be  done  with  life  from  a  purely  animal  point  of  view. 
The  outlook  is  closely  bounded  by  a  lofty  fence,  on  which 


6o         Worth  of  Faith  in  a  Life  to  come.  [Serm. 


is  traced  the  word  "  Annihilation  ; "  and  there  is  much  in 
nature  which  whispers  the  old  advice — 

"  Dona  prsesentis  rape  lsetus  horse, 
Linque  severa  " — 

or  which  bids  him,  in  more  modern  phrase,  enjoy  to  the  full 
the  successive  sensations,  one  by  one,  of  his  fleeting  period 
of  animation. 

But  suppose,  on  the  other  hand,  that  a  man's  thoughts 
run  thus :  "  I  am  here,  clothed  in  a  frame  of  flesh  and 
blood  which  must  soon  be  subjected  to  decay  and  dissolu- 
tion. But  this  stage  of  my  existence  is  only  a  brief 
preface  to  another  which  will  follow  it,  and  of  which  there 
will  be  no  end."  To  think  thus,  most  assuredly,  is  to  form 
another  estimate  of  the  best  use  to  make  of  the  remaining 
years  of  life.  That  vast  illimitable  existence  beyond  the 
grave  already  casts  across  a  man's  path  some  shadows,  at  the 
least,  of  its  own  magnificence ;  and  it  is  felt  that  there  is 
solemn  work  to  be  done,  within  and  without  him,  while 
the  day  of  preparation  lasts.  To  say  that  the  question  at 
issue  is  theoretical  or  abstract  is  to  disguise  very  serious 
issues  beneath  the  pedantries  of  phrase.  It  is  not  a  matter  of 
merely  abstract  interest  whether  Newton  ceased  altogether 
to  exist  on  March  20,  1727;  or  whether  he  is  living  some- 
where at  this  moment,  and,  it  may  be,  in  the  splendour  of 
of  a  higher  intellectual  and  moral  life.  The  real  question 
in  dispute  is  whether  man  is  a  creature  of  one  kind,  or  a 
creature  of  another  and  an  utterly  different  kind ;  whether 
he  is  to  think  of  his  life  and  its  duties  as  may  befit  a 
perishing  and  on  the  whole  a  very  unfortunate  animal, — 
unfortunate,  because  too  highly  endowed  for  purely  animal 
wellbeing, — or  whether  he  is  to  measure  his  opportunities 
as  a  spirit  should  measure  them  which  knows  itself  to  be 
confronted  by  high  hopes  and  by  terrific  possibilities; 
which  knows  that  it  already  belongs  by  the  tie  of  an  im- 
perishable existence  to  an  eternal  world. 


IV.]      Worth  of  Faith  in  a  Life  to  come.  61 


EL 

Secondly,  liuinan  beings,  as  such,  require  a  prospect  of 
something  beyond  the  immediate  present,  and  are  power- 
fully acted  upon  by  possessing  it.  Xo  one  who  has  ever 
observed  human  nature,  either  in  himself  or  in  others, 
can  doubt  the  importance  to  every  man  of  his  having 
something  before  him  of  which  he  is  not  yet  in  actual 
enjoyment.  The  present,  at  its  very  best,  does  not 
satisfy :  it  only  appears  to  satisfy  when  it  is  reinforced 
by  the  assurance  that  it  is  to  be  succeeded.  It  is  haunted 
by  the  sense  of  imperfection,  by  the  thirst  for  that 
which  it  imperfectly  suggests ;  its  outlook  is  bounded 
somewhat  abruptly  by  the  material  and  the  perishing; 
and  there  is  that  in  the  depths  of  the  human  soul  which 
is  capable  of  and  was  made  for  something  greater.  "I 
sought  in  mine  heart  to  give  myself  unto  wine,  yet  ac- 
quainting mine  heart  with  wisdom ;  and  to  lay  hold  on 
folly,  till  I  might  see  what  was  that  good  for  the  sons  of 
men,  which  they  should  do  under  the  heaven  all  the  days 
of  their  life.  I  made  me  great  works :  I  builded  me 
houses :  I  planted  me  vineyards  :  I  made  me  gardens  and 
orchards,  and  I  planted  trees  in  them  of  all  kinds  of 
fruits :  I  made  me  pools  of  water,  to  water  therewith  the 
wood  that  bringeth  forth  trees :  I  got  me  servants  and 
maidens,  and  had  servants  bom  in  my  house :  also  I  had 
great  possessions  of  great  and  small  cattle  above  all  that 
were  in  Jerusalem  before  me  :  I  gathered  me  also  silver 
and  gold,  and  the  peculiar  treasure  of  kings  and  of  the 
provinces :  I  gat  me  men  singers  and  women  singers, 
and  the  delights  of  the  sons  of  men,  as  musical  instruments, 
and  that  of  all  sorts.  So  I  was  great,  and  increased  more 
than  all  that  were  before  me  in  Jerusalem :  also  my 
wisdom  remained  with  me.  And  whatsoever  mine  eyes 
desired  I  kept  not  from  them :  I  withheld  not  my  heart 


62         Worth  of  Faith  in  a  Life  to  come.  [Serm. 


from  any  joy;  for  my  heart  rejoiced  in  all  my  labour: 
and  this  was  my  portion  of  all  my  labour  " 

And  what  was  the  conclusion  of  this  writer, — the  wisest 
probably  of  the  sons  of  men  ? 

"  Then  I  looked  on  all  the  works  that  my  hands  had 
wrought,  and  on  the  labour  that  I  had  laboured  to  do: 
and  behold,  all  was  vanity  and  vexation  of  spirit,  and 
there  was  no  profit  under  the  sun." 1 

Such  is  the  law  of  our  existence :  we  do  not  find  real 
satisfaction  in  the  temporary  and  the  evanescent,  and,  as 
a  consequence,  we  look  forward.  We  look  forward,  as  is 
natural,  first  of  all,  to  reaching  the  nearest  horizon  that 
bounds  our  view.  As  little  children,  we  look  forward  to 
the  strength  and  capacity  of  boyhood ;  as  boys,  we  anti- 
cipate the  freedom  and  completeness — for  such  in  the 
distance  it  seems — of  being  men.  As  men,  we  are  still 
expectant ;  when  we  have  gained  the  range  of  hills  which 
from  a  distance  seemed  erewhile  so  blue  and  picturesque, 
we  are  at  least  partly  disappointed ;  and,  moreover,  we  have 
caught  sight  of  another  range  beyond  it.  Thus  we  pass 
through  life;  anticipating  first  this  and  then  that  stage 
of  our  career,  until  at  last  the  warning — if  it  be  deferred 
so  long — comes  to  us,  that  there  is  not  much  more,  at  least 
here,  to  be  anticipated.  We  may  perhaps  attempt  to  con- 
tinue the  life  of  expectation  by  embarking  it  in  the 
fortunes  of  those  who  will  succeed  us  on  earth ;  but  this 
precaution  does  not  satisfy  a  being  who  cannot  but  be 
conscious  of  himself  possessing  an  existence  which  is 
utterly  and  necessarily  distinct  from  all  around  it.  Lucre- 
tius does  not  disguise  his  vexation  at  the  reluctance  of 
human  nature  to  acquiesce  in  the  fiat  of  extinction  at 
death  which  is  pronounced  by  the  materialist  philosophy: — 

"  Quid  tibi  tantopere  est,  mortalis,  quod  nimis  segris 
Luctibus  indulges  ?  quid  mortem  congemis,  ac  fles  ? 


1  Eccles.  ii.  3-1 1. 


IV.]      Worth  of  Faith  in  a  Life  to  come. 


63 


Cur  non,  ut  plenus  vitae  con  viva,  recedis, 

iEquo  animoque  capis  securam,  -stulte,  quietem  ? " 

No !  this  refusal  to  be  satisfied  with  the  banquet  of  our 
earthly  life  is  an  honourable  discontent ;  it  is  the  instinct 
of  a  being  who  cannot  suppress  the  promptings  of  a 
higher  destiny;  who  even  on  the  threshold  of  death 
must  look  forward  still  and  demand  a  future. 

How  this  requirement  of  our  nature  is  provided  for  in 
the  Christian  Revelation  is  familiar  to  all  of  you.  The  well- 
known  sarcasm  of  Gibbon,  when  he  is  discussing  the  second 
of  his  five  causes  of  the  growth  of  Christianity,1  is,  in  fact, 
the  statement  of  a  simple  truth.  That  which  philosophy 
could  not  do,  notwithstanding  some  noble  efforts,  towards 
giving  man  assurance  of  his  true  destiny,  was  achieved 
by  the  Gospel.  In  words  which  haunt  the  memories  even 
of  those  who  have  ceased  to  believe  that  they  are  words  of 
God,  the  Bible  warrants,  by  an  ascending  series  of  proclama- 
tions, the  bright  and  cherished  prospect  of  the  life  after 
death.  It  is  already  hovering  before  the  vision  of  Hebrew 
psalmists :  "  As  for  me,  I  will  behold  Thy  face  in  righteous- 
ness :  I  shall  be  satisfied,  when  I  awake,  with  Thy  likeness."2 
"  With  Thee  is  the  fountain  of  life :  and  in  Thy  light  shall 
we  see  light."  3  "  Thou  wilt  show  me  the  path  of  life  :  in 
Thy  Presence  is  the  fulness  of  joy,  and  at  Thy  right  hand 
there  are  pleasures  for  evermore."  4  It  underlies  the  language 
of  prophets,  even  when  they  are  thinking  of  some  nearer 
blessings:  "The  redeemed  of  the  Lord  shall  return,  and 
come  with  singing  unto  Zion  ;  and  everlasting  joy  shall  be 
upon  their  head:  they  shall  obtain  gladness  and  joy,  and 
sorrow  and  mourning  shall  flee  away." 5  "  Thy  sun  shall 
no  more  go  down,  neither  shall  thy  moon  withdraw  itself : 

1  Bed.  and  Fall,  c.  xv.  vol.  ii.  p.  170,  ed.  1862. 

2  Ps.  xvii.  15.  3  Ps.  xxxvi.  9. 
4  Ps.  xvi.  11.  '  Isa.  li.  11. 


Worth  of  Faith  in  a  Life  to  come.  [Serm. 


for  the  Lord  shall  be  thine  everlasting  light,  and  the  days 
of  thy  mourning  shall  be  ended."  1  It  is  rendered  certain 
by  the  words  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ :  "  In  My  Father's 
house  are  many  mansions  :  if  it  were  not  so,  I  would  have 
told  you :  I  go  to  prepare  a  place  for  you." 2  He  it  is  Who 
foretells  a  time  when  "  the  righteous  shall  shine  forth  as 
the  sun  in  the  kingdom  of  their  Father."  3  It  is  He  Who 
draws  the  picture  of  a  future  in  which  His  first  disciples 
are  to  "  sit  on  thrones,  judging  the  twelve  tribes  of 
Israel."4  He  Whose  presence  is  itself  heaven,  yet  ex- 
claims in  prayer,  "  Father,  I  will  that  they  whom  Thou  hast 
given  Me  be  with  Me  where  I  am,  that  they  may  behold 
My  glory." 5  His  is  the  precept,  "  Lay  up  for  yourselves 
treasures  in  heaven,  where  neither  moth  nor  rust  doth 
corrupt."  6  His  the  assurance,  "  The  righteous  shall  go 
away  into  life  eternal."7  His  the  forecast  of  a  state  of 
existence  where  "  they  neither  marry  nor  are  given  in 
marriage,  but  are  as  the  angels  of  God  in  heaven."8 
His  the  promise,  "He  that  loseth  his  life  for  My  sake 
shall  find  it."9 

And  thus  His  first  servants  live  in  view  of  the  prospect 
which  He  has  opened  to  them.  "  It  doth  not  yet  appear," 
they  say,  "  what  we  shall  be ;  but  we  know  that,  when  He 
shall  appear,  we  shall  be  like  Him,  for  we  shall  see  Him  as 
He  is."  10  "  We  are  joint-heirs,"  they  reflect,  "  with  Christ ; 
if  so  be  that  we  suffer  with  Him,  that  we  may  be  also 
glorified  together."  11  "  The  sufferings  of  this  present  time 
are,"  they  argue,  "  not  worthy  to  be  compared  with  the  glory 
that  shall  be  revealed  in  "  Christians.12  "  The  exceeding  and 
eternal  weight  of  glory"  is  triumphantly  contrasted  by  them 
with  the  "light  affliction  which  is  but  for  a  moment." 13  "An 

1  Isa.  lx.  20.  2  St.  John  xiv.  2.  3  St.  Matt.  xiii.  43. 

4  St.  Luke  xxii.  30.  5  St.  John  xvii.  24.        6  St.  Matt.  vi.  20. 

7  St.  Matt.  xxv.  46.  8  St.  Matt.  xxii.  30.      9  St.  Matt.  x.  39. 

10  1  St.  John  iii.  2.  11  Rom.  viii.  17.  12  Rom.  viii.  18. 
13  2  Cor.  iv.  17. 


IV.]      Worth  of  Faith  in  a  Life  to  come.  65 


inheritance  incorruptible,  and  undefiled,  and  that  fadeth 
not  away/'  is  reserved  in  heaven,  so  they  proclaim,  for  those 
who  through  grace  persevere  unto  the  end.1  Nay,  heaven 
is  open  to  them  in  ecstasy,  and  they  tell  us  what  they 
see  and  what  they  hear.  "  There  shall  be  no  night  there ; 
and  they  need  no  candle,  neither  light  of  the  sun;  for 
the  Lord  God  giveth  them  light :  and  they  shall  reign  for 
ever  and  ever." 2  The  martyred  and  blessed  dead  are 
"  before  the  throne  of  God,  and  serve  Him  day  and  night 
in  His  temple :  and  He  that  sitteth  on  the  throne  shall 
dwell  among  them.  They  shall  hunger  no  more,  neither 
thirst  any  more  :  neither  shall  the  sun  light  on  them,  nor 
any  heat."  3  "God  shall  wipe  away  all  tears  from  their 
eyes ;  there  shall  be  no  more  death,  neither  sorrow,  nor 
crying,  neither  shall  there  be  any  more  pain."  4  And,  in 
the  vision  of  the  text,  "  a  great  multitude,  which  no  man 
could  number,  of  all  nations,  and  kindreds,  and  people,  and 
tongues,  stood  before  the  throne,  and  before  the  Lamb, 
clothed  with  white  robes,  and  palms  in  their  hands ;  and 
cried  with  a  loud  voice,  saying,  Salvation  to  our  God 
Which  sitteth  upon  the  throne,  and  unto  the  Lamb." 

Yes,  this  is  the  great  anticipation  of  the  human  soul : 
this  is  the  great  announcement  of  the  Gospel.  It  gathers 
up  into  itself  all  that  is  best  in  the  enthusiasm  and  poetry 
of  our  race ;  it  consecrates  each  glimpse  of  true  beauty  that 
ever  has  visited  the  spirit  of  man.  All  that  has  seemed  in 
past  years  to  flit  before  us,  as  though  a  gleam  of  light  from 
a  brighter  world ;  all  that  has  lifted  us  for  the  moment,  we 
knew  not  how,  above  our  natural  selves,  into  a  region  of 
thought  and  feeling  which  was  strange  and  exquisite ;  all 
the  presentiments,  the  ideals,  the  outlines  of  higher  exist- 
ence, which  did  but  tarry  for  an  instant  with  us  and 
forthwith  vanish  away,  are  to  be  recalled,  realized,  perpet- 
uated, surpassed.    That  subtle  and  various  pleasure  which 

1  1  St.  Pet.  i.  4.      2  Rev.  xxii.  5.      3  Rev.  vii.  15,  16.      4  Rev.  xxi.  4. 

E 


66         Worth  of  Faith  in  a  Life  to  come.  [Serm. 

underlies  the  buoyant  spirits  of  youth,  and  the  strength  of 
manhood,  and  the  ripe  wisdom  and  well-earned  reverence 
of  age,  will  be  extracted,  condensed,  eternalized.  What  if 
those  who  know  not  God's  revelation  of  Himself  in  Christ 
have  anticipated  a  heaven  which  should  correspond  with 
their  debased  conception  of  "  the  best  on  earth"  ?  Surely 
this  does  not  prevent  Christians  from  acknowledging  that, 
though  heaven  is  no  creation  of  man's  imaginative  faculty, 
though  its  existence  is  just  as  objective  as  our  own,  yet 
God's  heaven  is  all  that  is  really  best  on  earth,  and  more 
besides.  The  highest  aspects  of  each  condition  of  life  are 
to  heaven  what  the  types  of  the  Old  Covenant  were  to  the 
Messiah ;  they  foreshadow,  now  one,  now  another  side  of  a 
perfectly  comprehensive  excellence,  till  they  lose  themselves 
in  that  which  they  so  variously  portray. 

Now,  to  maintain  that  serious  belief  in  such  a  future  as 
this  is  not  calculated  to  make  a  great  difference  in  the  life 
and  character  of  the  man  who  holds  it  is  to  contradict  all 
that  we  know  about  our  common  nature.  In  different 
/  senses  of  the  saying,  men  in  all  ages  are  saved  through  hope : 
in  other  words,  the  anticipation  of  a  better  future  is  the 
leverage  of  their  being.  Even  when  it  is  only  a  dim  future 
resting  not  even  upon  human  assurances,  but  on  some  pre- 
carious calculation  of  possibilities,  it  is,  at  times,  sufficient 
to  mould  a  life.  What  was  it  that  roused  the  young 
Hannibal  to  become  the  intrepid  leader  whom  we  meet 
in  history,  but  the  prospect  set  before  him  when  a  boy 
that  one  day  he  might  avenge  the  wrongs  of  his  country  ? 
What  was  it  that  has  led  discoverers  like  Columbus  to 
attempt  a  perilous  voyage  into  unknown  seas,  but  the 
reports  of  a  land  beyond  which  might  possibly  reward 
persevering  enterprise  ?  How  have  those  other,  and 
scarcely  less  noble,  discoverers  who  have  enriched  our! 
world  with  the  gifts  of  science  been  nerved  to  their  work, 
but  by  the  sustained  expectation  that  there  were  secrets 


IV.]      Worth  of  Faith  in  a  Life  to  come. 


67 


waiting  to  be  wrung  from  nature  if  only  men  would 
seek  them  ?  How  could  even  a  John  Howard  have  spent 
his  days  in  what  at  first  might  well  have  seemed  a  thank- 
less task,  the  rescue  of  thousands  of  prisoners  from  an 
aggravated  wretchedness,  and  of  society  from  the  thought- 
less barbarism  which  sanctioned  it,  had  it  not  seemed  to  him 
to  be  within  reach  of  his  untiring  philanthropy  ?  What 
else  indeed  has  supported  all  the  men  who  have  done  most 
and  best  for  their  kind,  under  the  pressure  of  difficulties 
and  against  appearances,  but  this  faith  in  a  possibly  im- 
proved condition  of  things,  for  which  they  must  needs 
labour  and  for  which  they  might  well  be  content  to  w^ait  ? 
And,  if  this  be  a  true  account  of  the  matter,  who  shall  call 
in  question  the  moral  importance  of  faith  in  a  future 
life,  or  the  immense  moral  loss  which  must  result  if  it 
be  renounced  ?  That  faith  rests,  as  Christians  believe,  on 
stronger  bases  than  any  of  the  probabilities  which  in  this 
life  move  good  and  enterprising  men  to  vigorous  action; 
md  Christianity  does  the  highest  service  to  human  nature 
:iere  and  now,  when  it  tells  man,  without  faltering  and 
.ucessantly,  that  he  has  to  live  for  another  world. 

It  may  indeed  be  asked  whether  the  true  satisfactions 
)f  religion  are  not  present  satisfactions  ?  whether  virtue  is 
lot  its  own  reward  ?  whether  God  is  not  the  present 
)Ossession  of  the  Christian  soul  ?  whether  the  things  that 
ye  hath  not  seen,  nor  ear  heard,  but  wThich  God  has 
prepared  for  them  that  love  Him,  are  not  things  to  be 
njoyed  on  earth  by  the  spirit  of  man  ? 1  whether,  in  fine, 
xpectation  of  something  yet  to  come  is  not  the  note  of 
treparatory  and  imperfect  dispensations,  and  unworthy  of 
he  Gift  which  was  made  to  man  by  the  Divine  Incarnation  ? 

To  this  it  must  be  replied  that  Christianity,  as  a  matter 
•f  fact,  does  not  profess  in  this  life  to  satisfy  all  the 
spirations  of  man.    It  does  a  great  deal  for  him,  yet  it 

1  1  Cor.  ii.  9. 


68        Worth  of  Faith  in  a  Life  to  come.  [Serm. 


leaves  something  still  to  be  done ;  it  holds  something  in 
reserve ;  and  that  for  man's  own  sake,  and  with  a  view  to 
his  best  interests.  Thus,  the  Christian  is  an  adopted  son 
of  God ; 1  yet,  since  the  redemption  of  the  body  from  the 
empire  of  death  is  still  future,  he  is  also  "  waiting  for  the 
adoption." 2  The  Christian  is  justified ; 3  yet  it  is  St.  Paul 
who  tells  him  that  we  Christians,  "through  the  Spirit," 
still  "wait  for  the  hope  of  righteousness  by  faith."4 
Christians  are  said  now  to  "  have  been  made  to  sit  together 
in  heavenly  places  in  Christ  Jesus,"5  and  yet, "  when  Christ, 
Who  is  our  life,  shall  appear,  then  shall  ye  also  appear  with 
Him  in  glory."  6  A  Christian  has  eternal  life ; 7  and  yet, 
although  to  live  is  Christ,  to  die  is  still,  in  some  sense, 
"  gain."  8  The  conversation  of  a  Christian  is  in  heaven ; J 
he  has  come  to  mount  Zion,  to  the  city  of  the  living  God, 
and  to  an  innumerable  company  of  angels,  and  to  the 
general  assembly  of  the  church  of  the  firstborn,  and  to  the 
spirits  of  the  just  made  perfect ;  and  to  Jesus  the  Mediator 
of  the  New  Covenant;10  the  supernatural  world  is  about 
him,  and  he  belongs  to  it.  And  yet  "  we  that  are  in  this 
tabernacle  do  groan,  being  burdened ; "  "  earnestly  desiring 
to  be  clothed  upon  with  our  house  which  is  from  heaven." 1 
Thus  the  satisfaction  which  Christianity  affords  to  th< 
\  human  soul  is  at  once  present  and  future ;  present  in  part 
\  but  future  in  its  completeness :  we  have  eternal  life,  yet  w 
\  expect  it ;  we  possess  God,  yet  we  look  forward  to  seein 
\Him  as  He  is;  we  are  in  heaven  in  one  sense,  while  i: j 
Wother  we  have  yet  to  win  it.  The  Treasure  of  the  Gospf 
is  ours,  but  only  in  part ;  enough  is  left  to  look  forward  t< 
to  feed  the  high  grace  of  hope,  to  exert  upon  the  natui 
which  God  the  Creator  has  given  us  that  strong  attraction 

1  Rom.  viii.  15.  Gal.  iv.  5.    Eph.  i.  5.  2  Rom.  viii.  2 

3  Rom.  v.  1,  9.  1  Cor.  vi.  II.     4  Gal.  v.  5.  5  Eph.  ii.  6. 

6  Col.  iii.  4.  7  1  St.  John  v.  13.  8  Phil.  i.  21. 

9  Phil.  iii.  20.  10  Heb.  xii.  22-24.  1J  2  Cor.  v.  4, 


IV.]       Worth  of  Faith  in  a  Life  to  come.  69 


that  indispensable  stimulus,  which  belongs  to  anticipation 
of  the  future. 

III. 

Once  more,  the  doctrine  of  a  life  to  come  affords  entire 
and  permanent  satisfaction  to  the  social  instincts  of  man. 

By  the  terms  of  his  nature  man  is  a  social  being;  his 
social  instincts  are  originally  due  not  to  what  he  has  made 
himself,  but  to  his  manhood.  In  its  three  forms, — the 
family,  the  country,  the  race, — society  takes  possession  of  us. 
We  are  born  into  a  family ;  long  before  we  can  determine 
and  shape  our  course,  other  human  beings  are  acting  upon 
us  with  decisive  power,  and  our  affections  are  drawn  out 
towards  and  engaged  by  them  beyond  recall.  Then,  as  our 
horizon  extends,  we  associate  ourselves  with  society  in  the 
larger  form  of  our  country ;  its  frontier,  its  enthusiasms,  its 
apprehensions,  its  dangers,  its  aspirations  become,  in  a  sense, 
our  own ;  a  whole  world  of  passion  and  interest  which  had 
slept  unsuspected  in  the  depths  of  our  being  is  roused  into 
activity,  and  we  find  ourselves  capable  of  much  whereof 
we  little  dreamt.  But  the  human  soul  knows  no  limits  to 
its  higher  aspirations,  and  the  social  instinct,  in  all  noble- 
minded  men,  endeavours  to  be  as  wide  in  its  range  of  exer- 
cise as  the  human  race.  To  be  a  man,  as  heathens  have  felt, 
is  to  have  sympathy  with  everything  that  is  truly  human. 

When,  then,  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  came  to  do  the  best 
that  Divine  Wisdom  could  do  for  us,  He  made  provision 
Tor  the  social  instinct  in  man.  He  knew  what  was  in  us, 
md  He  ordered  accordingly.  The  new  life  which  He 
Drought  us  is  not  only  a  personal  bond  between  each  of 
is  and  our  Maker,  it  is  also  a  social  bond  between 
?ach  of  us  and  our  brethren  who  share  it.  Thus  Chris- 
tianity becomes  concrete  and  actual,  not  merely  in  the 
)elieving  Christian,  but  in  the  organized  and  universal 
Jhurch.    A  Christian  is  not  only  a  man  who  is  of  a  par- 


70         Worth  of  Faith  in  a  Life  to  come.  [Serm. 


ticular  moral  type  and  temper,  or  who  knows  and  can  say- 
how  man  can  come  to  be  as  he  should  be  before  God :  he 
is  also  a  man  who  knows  and  remembers  that  he  is  a 
member  of  a  divinely-constituted  society  of  men.  For,  if 
any  one  thing  is  written  plainly  in  the  New  Testament  it 
is  that  our  Lord  came  to  found  a  society ;  that  He  called 
this  society  by  no  less  a  name  than  that  of  the  Kingdom 
of  Heaven,  in  order  to  remind  men  of  its  true  object  and 
character;  and  that  in  well-ordered  membership  of  this 
society,  no  less  than  in  sincere  personal  faith  and  love 
towards  the  Author  and  Restorer  of  our  being,  does  the 
true  Christian  life  essentially  consist. 

But  do  these  provisions  in  nature  and  in  grace  afford 
satisfaction  to  the  social  instinct  ?  Must  we  not  confess 
that  they  are  even  very  far  from  doing  so  ?  How  con- 
stantly is  the  family  the  scene  of  disagreements  which  are 
bitter  in  proportion  to  the  sacredness  of  the  ties  which  are 
violated  !  How  often  is  patriotism  only  a  name  for  party ; 
how  often  is  it,  as  in  France  under  the  First  Napoleon, 
associated  with  enterprises  which  a  strong  sense  of  right 
cannot  possibly  approve  !  How  often  do  cosmopolitan 
theories  shade  off  into  an  unhealthy  sentimentalism,  if 
indeed  they  do  not  take  the  form  of  some  subtle  variety 
of  selfish  aggrandizement ! 

Nor  can  it  be  maintained  that  the  social  instinct  is 
adequately,  or  rather  finally,  provided  for  in  the  Christian 
Church  militant.  The  Catholic  Church  is  indeed,  by  the 
will  of  its  Divine  Founder,  "  one  body  and  one  spirit,  even 
as  its  members  are  called  in  one  hope  of  their  calling." 1 
But  in  practice,  even  while  Apostles  are  living  and  ruling, 
"  every  one  "  of  its  members  "saith,  I  am  of  Paul,  and  I  of 
Apollos,  and  I  of  Cephas,  and  I  of  Christ."2  Its  divisions 
are  chronic ;  they  are  reinforced  by  the  strongest  passions 
that  can  move  mankind ;  they  crystallize  into  separations 

1  Eph.  iv.  4.  2  1  Cor.  i.  12. 


IV.]      Worth  of  Faith  in  a  Life  to  come.  71 


that  last  for  centuries ;  they  create  barriers  which  are  fatal 
to  the  ebb  and  flow  of  the  charities  of  Christ.  We  may 
well  wish  it  had  been  otherwise ;  we  must  indeed  pray  that 
it  may  be  otherwise.  We  may  say,  in  our  less  reverent 
moods,  that  if  the  world  was  to  be  won  to  the  Gospel,  it 
ought  to  have  been  otherwise.  We  do  not  really  escape 
from  the  difficulty  by  taking  refuge  in  the  largest  but  not 
the  least  changeful  fragment  of  a  divided  Christendom,  and 
by  burying  our  heads  ostrichwise  in  the  sands  of  a  'priori 
theories,  if  haply  we  may  persuade  ourselves  that  this 
fragment  is  the  whole.  In  these  matters  we  have  to 
submit  to  the  empire  of  facts ;  and  facts  do  not  adjust 
themselves  to  our  impetuous  assumptions.  Although  the 
Church  of  Christ  militant  is  bound  up  with  all  the  best 
hopes  for  truth  and  charity  which  our  race  can  entertain,  it 
does  not  correspond  to  the  ideal  aspirations  of  the  social 
instinct.  It  is  the  home  of  Divine  grace ;  but  it  is  also  the 
home  of  human  nature.  And  even  in  the  Church  human 
nature  asserts  its  fallen  propensities  towards  separation; 
even  on  this  sacred  ground  the  practical  result  disappoints 
the  higher  longings  of  man  for  a  perfect  society  on  earth. 

And  therefore  for  the  social  instinct,  as  for  the  need  of 
a  future,  provision  is  made  finally  and  adequately  in  the 
world  to  come.  In  that  world  there  will  be  a  reunion 
around  the  throne  of  Christ  of  all  who  have  been  separated 
here  by  the  misunderstandings  which  are  more  or  less 
inevitable  in  the  twilight.  The  saintly  characters,  the  high 
and  pure  intelligences,  whose  names  are  perhaps  familiar 
to  us,  the  outlines  of  whose  thought  or  life  have  reached 
us  through  dim  tradition,  or  whom  we  know  through  their 
writings,  and  have  longed — as  did  St.  Chrysostom  when  he 
read  St.  Paul — to  have  seen  and  heard  in  the  flesh  ;  these 
will  be  in  that  company.  And  others  whom  we  ourselves 
have  known  in  life,  and  who  have  passed  away,  and  have 
never  since  on  one  single  day  been  unremembered  in  our 


j  2        Worth  of  Faith  in  a  Life  to  come.  [Serm. 


prayers,  and  have  left  in  our  memories  an  impression  which 
is  as  fresh  now  as  when  they  parted  from  us,  and  which 
will  be  what  it  is  until  we  too  lie  down  to  die, — these  too 
will  be  present  in  that  vast  assemblage  as  our  fellow-citizens 
for  ever,  as  members  of  the  same  great  family  of  immortal 
beings.  Is  it  conceivable  that  such  a  prospect  of  introduc- 
tion to  all  who  have  been  really  great  and  noble  among  the 
sons  of  men  should  not  influence  those  who  enjoy  it  ?  is  it 
possible  that  they  are  living  and  acting  only  in  the  same 
moral  world  as  are  those  for  whom  all  that  follows  death  is 
a  dreary  blank  ? 

No,  it  is  impossible.  For  closely  allied  to  our  desire  for 
a  future  life,  and  for  a  purer  association  with  other  beings 
than  we  can  here  enjoy,  is  our  desire  for  personal  perfection. 
In  some  degree  this  passion  lives  in  every  human  soul ; 
if  it  has  been  trodden  out  or  suffered  to  die  away,  it  onee 
was  there ;  if  it  is  too  vague  to  have  any  clear  account  to 
give  of  itself,  it  is  not  the  less  an  original  feature  of  our 
nature.  It  gives  impulse  to  all  that  moves  upward  in 
human  life;  it  inspires  art,  it  reconstructs  society,  it 
endeavours  to  renew  individual  character.  It  is  at  once  a 
pleasure  and  a  torment,  an  enjoyment  and  a  reproach ;  and 
it  is  never  satisfied  in  this  life, — never.  Certainly,  we  are 
bidden  even  here  to  be  perfect;1  we  are  told,  in  a  variety 
of  ways,  that  in  this  life,  God,  the  Perfect  Being,  may  be 
possessed  by  the  human  soul.  "  If  a  man  love  Me  he  will 
keep  My  words,  and  My  Father  will  love  him,  and  We 
will  come  unto  him,  and  make  Our  abode  with  him."2 
But,  in  fact,  the  present  possession  of  God  by  a  soul  in 
grace  is,  although  a  most  real  and  priceless  blessing,  yet 
accompanied  by  drawbacks  arising  from  our  clinging 
imperfections,  which  will  no  longer  exist  in  a  better  state. 
"Now  we  see  through  a  glass  darkly,  but  then  face  to 
face."3    There  will  then  be  nothing  between  us  and 

1  St.  Matt.  v.  48.  2  St.  John  xiv.  23.  3  1  Cor.  xiii.  12. 


IV.]       Worth  of  Faith  in  a  Life  to  come.  73 


Himself.  Certainly,  He  is  now  what  He  will  be  then ;  the 
same,  yesterday,  to-day,  and  for  ever.1  But  we  shall  have 
been  changed.2  "  Beloved,  now  are  we  the  sons  of  God, 
and  it  doth  not  yet  appear  what  we  shall  be ;  but  we  know 
that  when  He  shall  appear,  we  shall  be  like  Him,  for  we 
shall  see  Him  as  He  is."3 

IV. 

Until,  then,  human  nature  ceases  to  be  what  it  is, 
the  question  whether  there  is,  or  is  not,  a  life  after  death 
cannot  but  have  great  practical  importance  for  mankind. 
Doubtless  there  have  been,  and  are,  men  who  have  been, 
according  to  their  light,  conscientious  and  upright  without 
believing  it ;  just  as  there  have  been,  and  are,  men  who  have 
professed  to  believe  it  without  being  upright  and  conscien- 
tious. But  the  question  is  as  to  the  mass  of  men,  not  as  to 
the  exceptions.  ISTo  one  can  doubt  that  in  the  case  of  the 
great  majority  of  human  beings,  the  presence  or  absence 
of  such  a  belief  as  this  must  make  all  the  difference  in  the 
world.  Not  that  it  would  be  a  sufficient  reason  for  assert- 
ing the  doctrine  to  say  that  it  is  a  doctrine  of  the  highest 
ethical  value ;  my  position  is,  that  being  true,  it  is  also  of 
the  greatest  value,  and  that,  if  it  could  be  disproved,  the 
loss  to  mankind  would  be  incalculably  great. 

And  yet,  we  must  all  know,  there  are  generous  hearts 
in  which  the  sad  whisper  is  uttered,  "  Would  that  it  were 
certain,  but  is  it  after  all  more  than  a  beautiful  dream  1 " 

My  brethren,  it  is,  probably  useless,  nowadays,  for  the 
purpose  of  producing  or  recovering  this  great  conviction,  to 
insist  upon  such  abstract  considerations  as  those  which  are 
put  forward  in  the  Phaedo  of  Plato,  and  from  which  so 
much  has  been  so  well  developed  in  modern  spiritualist 
philosophies,  as  to  the  intrinsic  nature,  the  immateriality, 

1  Heb.  xiii.  8.  2  i  Cor.  xv.  51.  3  1  St.  John  iii.  2. 


74         Worth  of  Faith  in  a  Life  to  come.  [Serm. 


the  indivisibility,  the  indestructibility  of  the  soul.  Many 
hard  things  have  been  said,  and  are  being  said,  about  the 
worth  of  these  arguments  ;  and  of  these  modem  criticisms 
themselves  it  may  be  said  also  that  men  who  come  after 
us  are  not  likely  to  take  them  all  for  granted.  But  the 
intellectual  temper  of  our  day  is  unquestionably  ill-dis- 
posed towards  a  priori  argument  dealing  with  subjects 
where  there  is  great  room  for  the  mistakes  which  are  due 
to  necessary  ignorance.  Let  me,  however,  suggest  two 
considerations  by  means  of  which  a  man  who  has  lost  it 
may  hope  to  recover  faith  in  an  existence  after  death. 

Of  these  the  first  is  the  steady  contemplation  of  the  idea 
of  justice,  an  idea  of  which  no  man  can  utterly  divest  him- 
self, if  indeed  he  would.  It  is  a  part  of  his  humanity  ;  if 
it  is  not  born  with  his  mind,  yet  it  is  inevitably  admitted, 
like  a  mathematical  axiom,  when  once  placed  before  him. 
A  man  can  neither  reject  it  in  theory  nor  dispute  its 
right  to  practical  ascendency;  and  yet,  when  he  reviews 
our  everyday  human  life  by  the  light  of  this  imperious 
idea,  what  is  his  conclusion  ?  The  success  of  crime,  the 
misfortunes  of  virtue,  are  the  commonplaces  of  experi- 
ence. They  are  too  numerous  and  too  serious  to  be 
explained  away.  If  anything  is  clear,  it  is  that  there  is  no 
sufficient  room  for  the  idea  of  justice  in  our  present  sphere 
of  being.  Justice  demands  some  more  extended  sphere ; 
justice  demands  an  immortality;  and  if  there  be  a  moral 
Being  of  Whose  intrinsic  nature  justice  is  a  ray,  then  the 
immortality  of  man  is  a  necessary  truth. 

Think  well,  brethren,  on  this  idea  of  justice ;  and  then, 
secondly,  go  into  the  presence  of  death,  the  death  of  one,  it 
may  be,  in  whose  life  we  have  felt — it  is  not  difficult  to  feel 
this  just  now  in  Oxford 1 — what  a  beautiful  and  majestic 
thing  a  human  life  may  be.  Up  to  the  last  there  is  every- 
thing to  betoken  the  unimpaired  activity  of  a  living  spirit, 

1  The  reference  is  to  the  late  Mrs.  Acland,  Nov.  1878. 


IV.]      Worth  of  Faith  in  a  Life  to  come.  75 

whose  moral  fervour  and  high  intelligence  have  conspired 
to  prove  how  little  the  pains  of  the  dissolution  which  is 
taking  possession  of  the  body  can  disturb  the  lofty  calm  of 
its  immaterial  tenant.  But  at  last  a  moment  comes  when 
the  voice  has  failed,  and  the  eye  is  dim,  and  the  features 
are  ri^id  in  death.  Is  it  conceivable  that  all  which  a  few 
moments  since  carried  us  beyond  ourselves  into  a  higher 
world  is  buried  beneath  the  folds  of  inanimate  matter  which 
lie  before  us  ?  No,  it  is  inconceivable.  Is  it  whispered  that 
this  is  an  intrusion  of  human  feeling  upon  ground  where 
science  only  has  a  right  to  teach  ?  I  answer,  that  feeling 
is  only  thus  confident  and  daring,  because  feeling  is  here 
the  drapery  of  man's  higher  reason;  and  that  reason  protests 
against  an  assumption  for  which  no  really  scientific  warrant 
can  be  shown,  and  which  is  contradicted  by  all  that  is  best 
worthy  of  trust  in  the  instinctive  judgment  of  the  hunian  soul. 

And  then,  when  we  have  cross-questioned  the  idea  of 
justice,  and  gazed  upon  the  face  of  the  saintly  dead,  let  us 
go  in  thought  to  the  empty  Sepulchre  outside  Jerusalem, 
and  ask  ourselves  the  meaning  of  the  event  which  actually 
took  place  there  eighteen  centuries  ago, — an  event  war- 
ranted by  testimony  which  in  all  ordinary  matters  of 
human  concern  would  be  deemed  conclusive.  That  event 
it  was  which  opened  the  kingdom  of  heaven  to  all 
believers.  Over  the  door  of  that  Sepulchre  we  Christians, 
not  without  reason,  will  ever  read  the  words  of  the  first 
Apostle :  "  Blessed  be  the  God  and  Father  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  Which  according  to  His  abundant  mercy 
hath  begotten  us  again  unto  a  lively  hope  by  the  Piesurrec- 
tion  of  Jesus  Christ  from  the  dead,  to  an  inheritance 
incorruptible,  and  undefiled,  and  that  fadeth  not  away."1 

Suffer  me  to  add  in  conclusion  a  few  words  which  may 
be  remembered  in  days  to  come. 

1  1  St.  Pet  i.  3,  4. 


7 6        Worth  of  Faith  in  a  Life  to  come.  [Serm. 


The  expectation  of  a  life  after  death  enables  us  to  am 
tilings  in  their  true  proportions.  The  future  life  furnishes 
us  with  a  point  of  view  from  which  to  survey  the 
questions,  the  occupations,  the  events  of  this.  Until  we 
keep  it  well  before  us,  we  are  like  those  persons  who  have 
never  travelled,  and  have  no  standard  by  which  to  estimate 
what  they  see  at  home.  Next  to  positive  error,  a  mistake 
as  to  the  relative  proportions  of  truths  is  the  greatest 
misfortune.  Yet  who  does  not  feel,  every  day  of  his  exist- 
ence, how  easily  this  mistake  is  made  ?  Some  occurrence 
which  touches  us  personally  appears  to  be  of  world-wide 
importance.  Some  book  which  we  have  fallen  in  with,  and 
have  read  with  sympathy,  or  perhaps  have  helped  to  write, 
seems  to  mark  an  epoch  in  literature  or  in  speculation. 
Some  controversy,  with  its  petty  but  absorbing  ferocities, 
lying  far  off  the  main  current  of  tempestuous  thought 
which  is  sweeping  across  our  distracted  generation,  appears, 
through  its  present  relation  to  ourselves,  to  touch  all 
interests  in  earth  and  heaven.  Self  magnifies  and  distorts 
everything;  the  true  corrective  is  to  be  found  in  the 
magnificent  and  tranquillizing  thought  of  another  life.  As 
men  draw  near  to  the  threshold  of  eternity  they  see  things 
more  nearly  as  they  are ;  they  catch  perspectives  which  are 
not  perceived  in  the  days  of  business  and  of  health. 
When  Bossuet  lay  a-dying,  in  great  suffering  and  exhaus- 
tion, one  who  was  present  thanked  him  for  all  his  kindness, 
and  using  the  Court  language  of  the  day,  begged  him  when 
in  another  world  to  think  of  the  friends  whom  he  was 
leaving,  and  who  were  so  devoted  to  his  person  and  his 
reputation.  At  this  last  word,  Bossuet,  who  had  almost 
lost  the  power  of  speech,  raised  himself  from  the  bed,  and 
gathered  strength  to  say,  not  without  an  accent  of  indig- 
nation, "  Don't  talk  like  that.  Ask  God  to  forgive  a  sinner 
his  sins." 

And  surely  those  occupations  should  claim  our  first 


IV.]      Worth  of  Faith  in  a  Life  to  come.  77 


attention  which  prepare  us  for  that  which  after  all  is 
the  really  important  stage  of  our  existence.  All  kinds 
of  earthly  duty  may  indeed  be  consecrated  to  this  work 
by  a  worthy  motive ;  but  direct  preparation  for  the  future 
is  made  in  worship.  In  the  most  solemn  moments  which 
we  can  spend  on  earth,  we  hear  the  words,  "  The  Body  of 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  which  was  given  for  thee,  preserve 
thy  body  and  soul  unto  everlasting  life."  Nay,  all  Chris- 
tian worship  is  in  proportion  to  its  sincerity  an  anticipation 
of  the  life  of  the  world  to  come.  Worship  is  the  earthly  act 
by  which  we  most  distinctly  recognise  our  personal  immor- 
tality: men  who  think  that  they  will  be  extinct  a  few 
years  hence  do  not  pray.  In  worship  we  spread  out  our 
insignificant  life,  which  yet  is  the  w^ork  of  the  Creator's 
hands,  and  the  purchase  of  the  Eedeemer's  Blood,  before  the 
Eternal  and  All-Merciful,  that  we  may  learn  the  manners 
of  a  higher  sphere,  and  fit  ourselves  for  companionship 
with  saints  and  angels,  and  for  the  everlasting  sight  of  the 
Face  of  God.  Worship  is  the  common  sense  of  faith  in  a 
life  to  come ;  and  the  hours  we  devote  to  it  will  assuredly 
be  among  those  upon  which  we  shall  reflect  with  most 
thankful  joy  when  all  things  here  shall  have  fallen  into  a 
very  distant  background,  and  when  through  the  Atoning 
Mercy  our  true  home  has  been  reached  at  last. 


SERMON  V. 


INFLUENCES  OF  THE  HOLY  SPIRIT. 
(WHITSUN-DAY.) 

St.  John  iii.  8. 

The  wind  bloweth  where  it  listeth,  and  thou  hearest  the  sound  tloereof,  but 
canst  not  tell  whence  it  cometh,  and  whither  it  goeth. 

WHO  has  not  felt  the  contrast,  the  almost  tragic 
contrast,  between  the  high  station  of  the  Jewish 
doctor,  member  of  the  Sanhedrin,  master  in  Israel,  and 
the  ignorance  of  elementary  religious  truth,  as  we  Chris- 
tians must  deem  it.  which  he  displayed  in  this  interview 
with  our  Blessed  Lord  ?  At  first  sight  it  seems  difficult  to 
understand  how  our  Lord  could  have  used  the  simile  in 
the  text  when  conversing  with  an  educated  and  thoughtful 
man,  well  versed  in  the  history  and  literature  of  God's 
ancient  people ;  and,  indeed,  a  negative  criticism  has 
availed  itself  of  this  and  of  some  other  features  in  the 
narrative,  in  the  interest  of  the  theory  that  Nicodemus 
was  only  a  fictitious  type  of  the  higher  classes  in  Jewish 
society,  as  they  were  pictured  to  itself  by  the  imagination 
of  the  fourth  Evangelist.  Such  a  supposition,  opposed 
to  external  facts  and  to  all  internal  probabilities,  would 
hardly  have  been  entertained,  if  the  critical  ingenuity  of 
its  author  had  been  seconded  by  any  spiritual  experience. 
Nicodemus  is  very  far  from  being  a  caricature;  and  our 
Lord's  method  here,  as  elsewhere,  is  to  lead  on  from 


Influences  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 


79 


familiar  phrases  and  the  well-remembered  letter  to  the 
spirit  and  realities  of  religion.  The  Jewish  schools  were 
not  unacquainted  with  the  expression  a  "  new  creature ; " 
but  it  had  long  since  become  a  mere  shred  of  official 
rhetoric.  As  applied  to  a  Jewish  proselyte,  it  scarcely 
meant  more  than  a  change  in  the  outward  relations  of 
religious  life.  Our  Lord  told  ISTicodemus  that  every  man 
who  would  see  the  kingdom  of  God  which  He  was  found- 
ing must  undergo  a  second  birth ;  and  JSTicodemus,  who 
had  been  accustomed  to  the  phrase  all  his  life,  could  not 
understand  it  if  it  was  to  be  supposed  to  mean  anything 
real.  "  How,"  he  asks,  "  can  a  man  be  born  when  he  is  old  ? 
can  he  enter  a  second  time  into  his  mother's  womb,  and 
be  born  ? "  Our  Lord  does  not  extricate  him  from  this 
blundering  literalism ;  He  repeats  His  own  original  asser- 
tion, but  in  terms  which  more  fully  express  His  meaning : 
"Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  thee,  Except  a  man  be  born  of 
water  and  of  the  Spirit,  he  cannot  enter  into  the  kingdom 
of  God.  That  which  is  born  of  the  flesh  is  flesh;  and 
that  which  is  born  of  the  Spirit  is  spirit.  Marvel  not  that 
I  said  unto  thee,  Ye  must  be  born  again."  Our  Lord's 
reference  to  water  would  not  have  been  unintelligible  to 
Mcodemus ;  every  one  in  Judasa  knew  that  the  Baptist- 
had  insisted  on  immersion  in  water  as  a  symbol  of  the 
purification  of  the  soul  of  man.  Certainly,  in  connect- 
ing "water"  with  the  Spirit  and  the  new  birth,  our 
Lord's  language,  glancing  at  that  of  the  prophet,1  went 
very  far  beyond  this.  He  could  only  be  fully  under- 
stood at  a  later  time,  when  the  Sacrament  of  Baptism  had 
been  instituted,  just  as  the  true  sense  of  His  early  allusions 
to  His  death  could  not  have  been  apprehended  until  after 
the  Crucifixion.  But  Nicodemus,  it  is  plain,  had  not  yet 
advanced  beyond  his  original  difficulty;  he  could  not 
conceive  how  any  second  birth  was  possible,  without  alto- 

1  Ezclc.  xxxvi.  24,  25. 


80  Influences  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  [Serm. 

gether  violating  the  course  of  nature.  And  our  Lord 
penetrates  his  thoughts  and  answers  them.  He  answers 
them  by  pointing  to  that  Invisible  Agent  Who  could 
achieve,  in  the  sphere  of  spiritual  and  mental  life,  what 
the  Jewish  doctor  deemed  so  impossible  a  feat  as  a  second 
birth.  Nature,  indeed,  contained  no  force  that  could 
compass  such  a  result;  but  nature  in  this,  as  in  other 
matters,  was  a  shadow  of  something  beyond  itself. 

It  was  late  at  night  when  our  Lord  had  this  interview 
with  the  Jewish  teacher.  At  the  pauses  in  conversation, 
we  may  conjecture,  they  heard  the  wind  without  as  it 
moaned  along  the  narrow  streets  of  J erusalem ;  and  our 
Lord,  as  was  His  wont,  took  His  creature  into  His  service 
— the  service  of  spiritual  truth.  The  wind  was  a  figure  of 
the  Spirit.  Our  Lord  would  have  used  the  same  word  for 
both.  The  wind  might  teach  Mcodemus  something  of  the 
action  of  Him  Who  is  the  real  Author  of  the  New  Birth  of 
man.    And  it  would  do  this  in  two  ways  more  especially. 

On  a  first  survey  of  nature,  the  wind  arrests  man's 
attention,  as  an  unseen  agent  which  seems  to  be  moving 
with  entire  freedom.  "  The  wind  bloweth  where  it  listeth." 
It  is  fettered  by  none  of  those  conditions  which  confine 
the  swiftest  bodies  that  traverse  the  surface  of  the  earth  I 
it  sweeps  on  as  if  independent  of  law,  rushing  hither  and 
thither,  as  though  obeying  its  own  wayward  and  momen- 
tary impulse.  Thus  it  is  an  apt  figure  of  a  self-determining 
invisible  force ;  and  of  a  force  which  is  at  times  of  over- 
mastering power.  Sometimes,  indeed,  its  breath  is  so 
gentle,  that  only  a  single  leaf  or  blade  of  grass  will  at 
distant  intervals  seem  to  give  the  faintest  token  of  its 
action ;  yet,  even  thus,  it  "  bloweth  where  it  listeth."  Some- 
times it  bursts  upon  the  earth  with  destructive  violence ; 
nothing  can  resist  its  onslaught ;  the  most  solid  buildings 
give  way ;  the  stoutest  trees  bend  before  it ;  whatever  is 
frail  and  delicate  can  only  escape  by  the  completeness  of 


V.]         Influences  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  8 1 


its  submission.  Thus,  too,  it  "  bloweth  where  it  listeth." 
Beyond  anything  else  that  strikes  upon  the  senses  of  man, 
it  is  suggestive  of  free  supersensuous  power ;  it  is  an  appro- 
priate symbol  of  an  irruption  of  the  Invisible  into  the  world 
of  sense,  of  the  action,  so  tender  or  so  imperious,  of  the 
Divine  and  Eternal  Spirit  upon  the  human  soul. 

But  the  wind  is  also  an  agent  about  whose  proceedings 
we  really  know  almost  nothing.  "  Thou  nearest  the  sound 
thereof;"  such  is  our  Lord's  concession  to  man's  claim  to 
knowledge.  "  Thou  canst  not  tell  whence  it  cometh,  and 
whither  it  goeth ; "  such  is  the  reserve  which  He  makes 
in  respect  of  human  ignorance.  Certainly  we  do  more  than 
hear  the  sound  of  the  wind ;  its  presence  is  obvious  to  three 
of  the  senses.  "We  feel  the  chill  or  the  fury  of  the  blast ; 
and,  as  it  sweeps  across  the  ocean,  or  the  forest,  or  the  field 
of  corn,  we  see  how  the  blades  rise  and  fall  in  graceful 
curves,  and  the  trees  bend,  and  the  waters  sink  and  swell  into 
waves  which  are  the  measure  of  its  strength.  But  our 
Lord  says,  "  Thou  nearest  the  sound  thereof."  He  would 
have  us  test  it  by  the  most  spiritual  of  the  senses.  It 
whispers,  or  it  moans,  or  it  roars  as  it  passes  us ;  it  has  a 
pathos  all  its  own.  Yet  what  do  we  really  know  about  it  ? 
"Thou  canst  not  tell  whence  it  cometh,  and  whither  it 
goeth."  Does  the  wind  then  obey  no  rule ;  is  it  a  mere 
symbol  of  unfettered  caprice  ?  Surely  not.  If,  as  the  Psal- 
mist sings,  "  God  bringeth  the  winds  out  of  His  treasuries,"1 
He  acts,  we  may  be  sure,  here  as  always,  whether  in  nature 
or  in  grace,  by  some  law,  which  His  own  perfections 
impose  upon  His  action.  He  may  have  given  to  us  of 
these  later  times  to  see  a  very  little  deeper  beneath  the 
surface  of  the  natural  world  than  was  the  case  with  our 
fathers.  Perchance  we  explain  the  immediate  antecedents 
of  the  phenomenon ;  but  can  we  explain  our  own  explana- 
tion ?    The  frontier  of  our  ignorance  is  removed  one  stage 

1  Ps.  cxxxv.  7. 
F 


82  Influences  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  [Serm. 


farther  back ;  but  "  the  way  of  the  wind  "  is  as  fitting  an 
expression  for  the  mysterious  now  as  it  was  in  the  days  of 
Solomon.1  We  know  that  there  is  no  cave  of  JEolus.  We 
know  that  the  wind  is  the  creature  of  that  Great  Master 
Who  works  everywhere  and  incessantly  by  rule.  But,  as 
the  wind  still  sweeps  by  us  who  call  ourselves  the  children 
of  an  age  of  knowledge,  and  we  endeavour  to  give  our 
fullest  answer  to  the  question,  "whence  it  cometh,  and 
whither  it  goeth  ? "  wre  discover  that,  as  the  symbol  of  a 
spiritual  force,  of  whose  presence  we  are  conscious,  while 
we  are  unable  to  determine,  with  moderate  confidence, 
either  the  secret  principle  or  the  range  of  its  action,  the 
wind  is  as  full  of  meaning  still  as  in  the  days  of  Nicodemus. 

When  our  Lord  has  thus  pointed  to  the  freedom  and  the 
mvsteriousness  of  the  wind,  He  adds,  "  So  is  every  one  that 
is  horn  of  the  Spirit."  The  simile  itself  would  have  led  us 
to  expect — "  So  is  the  Spirit  of  God."  The  man  born  of 
the  Spirit  would  answer  not  to  the  wind  itself,  but  to 
the  sensible  effect  of  the  wind.  There  is  a  break  of  cor- 
respondence between  the  simile  and  its  application.  The 
simile  directs  attention  to  the  Divine  Author  of  the  new 
birth  in  man.  The  words  which  follow  direct  attention  to 
the  human  subject  upon  whom  the  Divine  Agent  works. 
Something  similar  is  observable  when  our  Lord  compares 
the  kingdom  of  heaven  to  a  merchantman  seeking  goodly 
pearls;  the  kingdom  really  corresponds  not  to  the  merchant- 
man, but  to  the  pearl  of  great  price  which  the  merchant- 
man buys.2  In  such  cases,  we  may  be  sure,  the  natural 
correspondence  between  a  simile  and  its  application  is 
not  disturbed  without  a  motive.  And  the  reason  for  this 
disturbance  is  presumably  that  the  simile  is  not  adequate  to 
the  full  purpose  of  the  speaker,  who  is  anxious  to  teach 
some  larger  truth  than  its  obvious  application  would 

1  Eccles.  xi.  5,  where  however  the  Authorized  Version  renders  "spirit." 

2  St.  Matt.  xiii.  45,  46. 


V.]         Influences  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  83 


suggest.  In  the  case  before  us,  we  may  be  allowed  to 
suppose,  that  by  His  reference  to  the  wind  our  Lord  desired 
to  convey  something  more  than  the  real  but  mysterious 
agency  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  the  new  birth  of  man.  His 
language  seems  designed,  not  merely  to  correct  the 
materialistic  narrowness  of  the  Jewish  doctor,  not  merely 
to  answer  by  anticipation  the  doubts  of  later  days  as  to  the 
spiritual  efficacy  of  His  own  Sacrament  of  Regeneration, 
but  to  picture,  in  words  which  should  be  read  to  the  end 
of  time,  the  general  work  of  that  Divine  Person  Whose 
mission  of  mercy  to  our  race  was  at  once  the  consequence 
and  the  completion  of  His  own. 

It  may  be  useful  to  trace  the  import  of  our  Lord's  simile 
in  three  fields  of  the  action  of  the  Holy  and  Eternal 
Spirit ;  His  creation  of  a  sacred  literature,  His  guidance  of 
a  Divine  society,  and  His  work  upon  individual  souls. 

I. 

As,  then,  we  turn  over  the  pages  of  the  Bible,  must  we 
not  say,  "  The  wind  of  heaven  bloweth  where  it  listeth  "  ? 
If  we  might  reverently  imagine  ourselves  scheming  before- 
hand what  kind  of  book  the  Book  of  God  ought  to  be,  how 
different  would  it  be  from  the  actual  Bible  !  There  would 
be  as  many  Bibles  as  there  are  souls,  and  they  would  differ 
as  widely.  But  in  one  thing,  amid  all  their  differences,  they 
would  probably  agree :  they  would  lack  the  variety,  both 
in  form  and  substance,  of  the  Holy  Book  which  the  Church 
:of  God  places  in  the  hands  of  her  children.  The  self- 
assertion,  the  scepticism,  and  the  fastidiousness  of  our  day 
would  meet  like  the  men  of  the  second  Roman  triumvirate 
on  that  island  in  the  Reno,  and  would  draw  up  their  lists 
of  proscription.  One  wTould  condemn  the  poetry  of  Scrip- 
ture as  too  inexact;  another  its  history  as  too  largely 
■secular ;  another  its  metaphysics  as  too  transcendental,  or 
is  hostile  to  some  fanciful  ideal  of  "  simplicity,"  or  as  likely 


84  Influences  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  [Serm. 


to  quench  a  purely  moral  enthusiasm.  The  archaic  history 
of  the  Pentateuch,  or  the  sterner  side  of  the  ethics  of  the 
Psalter,  or  the  supernaturalism  of  the  histories  of  Elijah 
or  of  Daniel,  or  the  so-called  pessimism  of  Ecclesiastes,  or 
the  alleged  secularism  of  Esther,  or  the  literal  import  of 
the  Song  of  Solomon,  would  be  in  turn  condemned.  Nor 
could  the  Apostles  hope  to  escape :  St.  John  would  be  too 
mystical  in  this  estimate  ;  St.  James  too  legal  in  that ;  St. 
Paul  too  dialectical,  or  too  metaphysical,  or  too  easily 
capable  of  an  antinomian  interpretation ;  St.  Peter  too 
undecided,  as  if  balancing  between  St.  Paul  and  St.  James. 
Our  new  Bible  would  probably  be  uniform,  narrow, 
symmetrical ;  it  would  be  entirely  made  up  of  poetry,  or 
of  history,  or  of  formal  propositions,  or  of  philosophical 
speculation,  or  of  lists  of  moral  maxims ;  it  would  be 
modelled  after  the  type  of  some  current  writer  on  English 
history,  or  some  popular  poet  or  metaphysician,  or  some 
sentimentalist  who  abjures  history  and  philosophy  alike 
on  principle,  or  some  composer  of  well-intentioned  religious 
tracts  for  general  circulation.  The  inspirations  of  heaven 
would  be  taken  in  hand,  and  instead  of  a  wind  blowing 
where  it  listeth,  we  should  have  a  wind,  no  doubt,  of  some 
kind,  rustling  earnestly  enough  along  some  very  narrow 
crevices  or  channels,  in  obedience  to  the  directions  of  some 
one  form  of  human  prejudice,  or  passion,  or  fear,  or  hope. 

My  brethren,  the  Bible  is  like  nature  in  its  immense,  its 
exhaustless  variety ;  like  nature,  it  reflects  all  the  higher 
moods  of  the  human  soul,  because  it  does  much  more; 
because  it  brings  us  face  to  face  with  the  infinity  of  the 
Divine  Life.  In  the  Bible  the  wind  of  heaven  pays  scant 
heed  to  our  anticipations  or  our  prejudices ;  it  "  bloweth 
where  it  listeth."  It  breathes  not  only  in  the  Divine  charities 
of  the  Gospels,  not  only  in  the  lyrical  sallies  of  the  Epistles, 
not  only  in  the  great  announcements  scattered  here  and 
there  in  Holy  Scripture  of  the  magnificence,  or  the  coin- 




V.]  Influences  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  85 

passion,  or  the  benevolence  of  God ;  but  also  in  the  stern 
language  of  the  prophets,  in  the  warnings  and  lessons  of  the 
historical  books,  in  the  revelations  of  Divine  justice  and 
of  human  responsibility  which  abound  in  either  Testament. 
"  Where  it  listeth."  Not  only  where  our  sense  of  literary 
beauty  is  stimulated,  as  in  St.  Paul's  picture  of  charity,1 
by  lines  which  have  taken  captive  the  imagination  of  the 
world,  not  only  where  feeling  and  conscience  echo  the 
verdict  of  authority  and  the  promptings  of  reverence,  but 
also  where  this  is  not  the  case;  where  neither  precept 
nor  example  stimulates  us,  and  we  are  left  face  to  face  with 
historical  or  ethical  material,  which  appears  to  us  to  inspire 
no  spiritual  enthusiasm,  or  which  is  highly  suggestive  of 
critical  difficulty.  Let  us  be  patient ;  we  shall  understand, 
if  we  will  only  wait,  how  these  features  of  the  Bible  too 
are  integral  parts  of  a  living  whole ;  here,  as  elsewhere,  the 
Spirit  breathes ;  in  the  genealogies  of  the  Chronicles  as  in 
the  Last  Discourse  in  St.  John,  though  with  an  admitted 
difference  of  manner  and  degree.  He  "  bloweth  where  He 
listeth."  The  Apostle's  words  respecting  the  Old  Testament 
are  true  of  the  New :  "  All  Scripture  is  given  by  inspiration 
of  God,  and  is  profitable  for  doctrine,  for  reproof,  for  cor- 
rection, for  instruction  in  righteousness."2  And,  "Whatso- 
ever things  were  written  aforetime  were  written  for  our 
learning,  that  we  through  patience  and  comfort  of  the 
Scriptures  might  have  hope."  3 

Yet  "  thou  nearest  the  sound  thereof,  but  canst  not  tell 
whence  it  cometh,  and  whither  it  goeth."  The  majesty  of 
Scripture  is  recognised  by  man,  wherever  there  is,  I  will 
not  say  a  spiritual  faculty,  but  a  natural  sense  of  beauty. 
The  "  sound  "  of  the  wind  is  perceived  by  the  trained  ear, 
by  the  literary  taste,  by  the  refinement,  by  the  humanity  of 
every  generation  of  educated  men.  But  what  beyond  ?  What 
of  its  spiritual  source,  its  spiritual  drift  and  purpose,  its 
1  1  Cor.  xiii.  2  2  Tim.  iii.  16.  3  Rom.  xv.  4. 


86  Influences  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  [Serm. 


half-concealed  but  profound  unities,  its  subtle  but  imperi- 
ous relations  to  conscience  ?  Of  these  things,  so  precious 
to  Christians,  a  purely  literary  appreciation  of  Scripture 
is  generally  ignorant ;  the  sacred  Book,  like  the  prophet  of 
the  Chebar,  is  only  "  as  a  very  lovely  song  of  one  that  hath 
a  pleasant  voice,  and  can  play  well  on  an  instrument." 1 
Or  again,  the  "sound  thereof"  is  heard  in  the  admitted 
empire  of  the  Bible  over  millions  of  hearts  and  consciences ; 
an  empire  the  evidences  of  which  strike  upon  the  ear  in 
countless  ways,  and  which  is  far  too  wide  and  too  secure 
to  be  affected  by  the  criticisms  that  might  occasionally 
seem  to  threaten  it.  What  is  the  secret  of  this  influence 
of  Scripture  ?  Not  simply  that  it  is  the  Book  of  Eevela- 
tion  ;  since  it  contains  a  great  deal  of  matter  which  lay 
fairly  within  the  reach  of  man's  natural  faculties.  The 
"Word  or  Eternal  Eeason  of  God  is  the  Pievealer;  but 
Scripture,  whether  it  is  a  record  of  Divine  revelations  or 
of  naturally  observed  facts,  is,  in  the  belief  of  the  Christian 
Church,  throughout  "  inspired  "  by  the  Spirit.  Inspiration 
is  the  word  which  describes  the  presence  and  action  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  everywhere  in  Scripture.  But  what  does  the 
Christian  Church  exactly  mean  by  Inspiration  ?  Many  have 
been  the  attempts  to  answer  that  question  precisely.  It  has 
been  said  of  the  late  Dr.  Arnold  that  during  the  later  years 
of  his  life  he  spent  more  thought  in  the  effort  to  construct  a 
perfectly  satisfactory  theory  of  inspiration  than  on  any  other 
subject.  In  the  Church  of  Borne  there  are  at  least  three 
permitted  opinions  as  to  the  nature  of  Biblical  Inspiration. 
The  more  rigid,  advocated  by  some  Dominican  theologians, 
regards  the  sacred  writers  as  simply  passive  instruments  of 
the  Inspiring  Spirit,  so  that  every  word  and  comma  and  point 
was  dictated  from  heaven.2    Other  understand  by  inspira- 

1  Ezek.  xxxiii.  32. 

2  Rabaudy,  Ord.  Prsed.  Excrc.  de  Script.  Sac.  ii.  3,  sub  fin.,  quoted  by 
Perrone,  Frcel.  TJicol.  ii.  1082,  ed.  Migue. 


v.i 


Influences  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 


87 


tion  a  general  'positive  assistance,  prescribing  what  to  write, 
what  to  omit,  and  guiding  the  general  choice  of  language 
and  of  periods  without  dictating  each  separate  expression.1 
The  Jesuit  divines  of  Louvain,  Hamel  and  Lessius,  con- 
fined inspiration  to  the  purely  negative  function  of  pro- 
tecting the  inspired  writer  from  error.-  In  the  English 
Church  the  differences  on  the  subject  are,  at  least,  as  con- 
siderable as  in  the  Church  of  Eome.  The  demand  for  an 
exact  theory  is  natural  enough,  especially  on  the  part  of 
sincerely  religious  men,  who  have  lost  sight  of  the  provi- 
dential guidance  of  the  Church,  and  who  desire  to  enhance 
as  far  as  possible  the  definite  force  of  the  authority  of 
Scripture.  Yet  surely  it  is  a  matter  for  thankfulness  that 
no  part  of  the  Catholic  Church  has  formally  committed 
itself  to  an  authoritative  doctrine  of  Biblical  Inspiration, 
whatever  may  have  been  attempted  by  private  writers  of 
more  or  less  consideration.  Xot  merely  because  any  possible 
definition  would  almost  certainly  add  to  difficulties  which 
are  suggested  by  negative  criticism ;  but  much  more  because, 
from  the  nature  of  the  case,  we  are  not  really  able  to  deal 
ab  intra  with  such  a  subject.  That  Divine  inspiration 
must  postulate  certain  momentous  results,  positive  as  well 
as  negative,  may  indeed  be  taken  for  granted;  some  positive 
informing  guidance,  as  well  as  immunity  from  any  moral 
or  doctrinal  error.  But  when  we  go  beyond  this,  and 
endeavour  to  hold  the  balance  between  mechanical  and 
dynamical  theories,  in  other  words,  to  determine  how  the 
Divine  Spirit  has  acted  upon  the  human,  we  are  in  a  region 
where  nothing  is  really  possible  beyond  precarious  con- 
jecture. AVe  know  not  how  our  own  spirits,  hour  by  hour, 
•  are  acted  on  by  the  Eternal  Spirit,  though  we  do  not  ques- 
tion the  fact ;  we  content  ourselves  with  recognising  what 
we  cannot  explain.    If  we  believe  that  Scripture  is  inspired, 

,  1  So  Valentia,  Estins  in  2  Tim.  iii.  16,  quoted  by  Perrone,  Prcel.  Thcol. 
ii.  1082,  ed.  Migne.  2  Cf.  Peri  oue,  ubi  sup.  10S3,  note  (3). 


88  Influences  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  [Serm. 


we  know  that  it  is  instinct  with  the  Presence  of  Him  Whose 
voice  we  might  hear  in  its  every  utterance,  but  of  Whom 
we  cannot  tell  whence  He  cometh  or  whither  He  goeth. 

IT. 

The  history  of  the  Church  of  Christ  from  the  days  of  the 
Apostles  has  been  a  history  of  spiritual  movements.  Doubt- 
less it  has  been  a  history  of  much  else  ;  the  Church  has  been 
the  scene  of  human  passions,  human  speculations,  human 
errors.  But  traversing  these,  He  by  Whom  the  whole  body  of 
the  Church  is  governed  and  sanctified,  has  made  His  Presence 
felt,  not  only  in  the  perpetual  proclamation  and  elucidation 
of  truth,  not  only  in  the  silent,  never-ceasing  sanctification 
of  souls,  but  also  in  great  upheavals  of  spiritual  life,  by 
which  the  conscience  of  Christians  has  been  quickened,  or 
their  hold  upon  the  truths  of  Eedemption  and  Grace  made 
more  intelligent  and  serious,  or  their  lives  and  practice 
restored  to  something  like  the  ideal  of  the  Gospels.  Even 
in  the  apostolic  age  it  was  necessary  to  warn  Christians 
that  it  was  high  time  to  awake  out  of  sleep;  that  the 
night  of  life  was  far  spent,  and  the  day  of  eternity  was 
at  hand.1  And  ever  since,  from  generation  to  generation, 
there  has  been  a  succession  of  efforts  within  the  Church 
to  realize  more  worthily  the  truth  of  the  Christian  creed, 
or  the  ideal  of  the  Christian  life.  These  revivals  have 
been  inspired  or  led  by  devoted  men  who  have  represented 
the  highest  conscience  of  Christendom  in  their  day.  They 
may  be  traced  along  the  line  of  Christian  history;  the  Spirit 
living  in  the  Church  has  by  them  attested  His  Presence 
and  His  Will;  and  has  recalled  lukewarm  generations, 
paralyzed  by  indifference  or  degraded  by  indulgence,  to 
the  true  spirit  and  level  of  Christian  faith  and  life. 

In  such  movements  there  is  often  what  seems,  at  first 
sight,  an  element  of  caprice.  They  appear  to  contemporaries 

1  Rom.  xiii.  n,  12. 


V.]         Influences  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  89 


to  be  onesided,  exaggerated,  narrow,  fanatical.  They  are 
often  denounced  with  a  passionate  fervour  which  is  so 
out  of  proportion  to  the  reality  as  to  border  on  the  grotesque. 
They  are  said  to  exact  too  much  of  us,  or  to  concede  too 
much.  They  are  too  contemplative  in  their  tendency  to 
be  sufficiently  practical,  or  too  energetically  practical  to  do 
justice  to  religious  thought.  They  are  too  exclusively 
literary  and  academical,  as  being  the  work  of  men  of  books ; 
or  they  are  too  popular  and  insensible  to  philosophical 
considerations,  as  being  the  work  of  men  of  the  people. 
Or,  again,  they  are  so  occupied  with  controversy  as  to  forget 
the  claims  of  devotion,  or  so  engaged  in  leading  souls  to  a 
devout  life  as  to  forget  the  unwelcome  but  real  necessities 
of  controversy.  They  are  intent  on  particular  moral 
improvements  so  exclusively  as  to  forget  what  is  due  to 
reverence  and  order  ;  or  they  are  so  bent  upon  rescuing  the 
Church  from  chronic  slovenliness  and  indecency  in  public 
worship  as  to  do  less  than  justice  to  the  paramount  interests 
of  moral  truth.  Sometimes  these  movements  are  all  feeling; 
sometimes  they  are  all  thought ;  sometimes  they  are,  as  it 
seems,  all  outward  energy.  In  one  age  they  produce  a 
literature  like  that  of  the  fourth  and  fifth  centuries ;  in 
another  they  found  orders  of  men  devoted  to  preaching  or 
to  works  of  mercy,  as  in  the  twelfth ;  in  another  they  enter 
the  lists,  as  in  the  thirteenth  century,  with  a  hostile 
philosophy;  in  another  they  attempt  a  much-needed 
Reformation  of  the  Church ;  in  another  they  pour  upon  the 
heathen  world  a  flood  of  light  and  warmth  from  the  heart 
of  Christendom.  It  is  easy,  as  we  survey  them,  to  say 
that  something  else  was  needed ;  or  that  what  was  done 
could  have  been  done  better  or  more  completely ;  or  that, 
had  we  been  there,  we  should  not  have  been  guilty  of  this 
onesidedness,  or  of  that  exaggeration.  We  forget,  perhaps, 
Who  really  ivas  there,  and  Whose  work  it  is,  though  often 
overlaid  and  thwarted  by  human  weakness  and  human 


90 


Influences  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  [Serm. 


passion,  that  we  are  really  criticising.  If  it  was  seemingly 
onesided,  excessive  or  defective,  impulsive  or  sluggish, 
speculative  or  practical,  aesthetic  or  experimental,  may  not 
this  have  been  so  because  in  His  judgment,  Who  breatheth 
where  He  listeth,  this  particular  characteristic  was  needed 
for  the  Church  of  that  day  ?  All  that  contemporaries  know 
of  such  movements  is  "the  sound  thereof;"  the  names 
with  which  they  are  associated,  the  controversies  which 
they  precipitate,  the  hostilities  which  they  rouse  or  allay, 
as  the  case  may  be.  Such  knowledge  is  superficial  enough  ; 
of  the  profound  spiritual  causes  which  really  engender 
them,  of  the  direction  in  which  they  are  really  moving,  of 
the  influence  which  they  are  destined  permanently  to  exert 
upon  souls,  men  know  little  or  nothing.  The  accidental 
symptom  is  mistaken  for  the  essential  characteristic ;  the 
momentary  expression  of  feeling  for  the  inalienable  con- 
viction of  certain  truth.  The  day  may  come,  perhaps, 
when  more  will  be  known ;  when  practice  and  motive, 
accident  and  substance,  the  lasting  and  the  transient,  will 
be  seen  in  their  true  relative  proportions ;  but  for  the  time 
this  can  hardly  be.  He  is  passing  by  "Whose  way  is  in  the 
sea,  and  His  paths  in  the  deep  waters,  and  His  footsteps 
unknown." 1  The  Eternal  Spirit  is  passing  ;  and  men  can 
only  say,  "  He  bloweth  where  He  listeth." 

Those  who  take  God  at  His  word  will  not  doubt  where 
His  Holy  Spirit  is  given.  In  sacraments  which  He  has 
ordained ;  in  a  message  which  He  has  authorized ;  in 
prayer,  public  and  private,  to  which  He  has  pledged  His 
presence,2  this  great  gift  is  certainly  to  be  found.  The 
Spirit  is  the  soul  of  the  Church,  and  whatever  be  the  weak- 
nesses or  diseases  of  parts  of  the  body  which  He  deigns 
to  inhabit,  the  soul  asserts  itself  as  life  in  its  furthest 
extremities. 

But  is  His  mission  wholly  confined  to  the  Body  of 
1  Ps.  lxxvii.  19.  2  St.  Matt,  xviii.  20. 


V.]  Influences  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  91 


Christ  ?  has  He  no  relations  to  separated  groups  of 
Christians,  to  seekers  after  truth  in  heathen  lands,  to  lower 
forms  of  truth  as  well  as  higher,  to  philosophy,  to  science, 
to  art,  to  all  departments  of  human  energy  ?  Surely  in 
recognising  this  larger  sphere  of  His  energy  we  do  not  blur 
the  lines  of  His  covenanted  action;  to  believe  in  the 
mighty  gift  of  Pentecost  is  not  to  deny  that  "  the  Spirit  of 
the  Lord  filleth  the  world."1  Doubtless  in  His  activity 
there  are  many  methods,  many  degrees  of  intensity,  many 
ends  in  view.  His  influence  is  vouchsafed  to  those  who 
hold  only  portions  of  truth,  that  they  may  be  led  on  to 
that  which  as  yet  they  do  not  hold ;  He  prevents  men 
with  His  most  gracious  favour  before  He  furthers  their 
efforts  by  His  continual  help.  This  may  be  understood 
most  easily  by  those  who  most  firmly  believe  in  the 
revealed  constitution  and  claims  of  the  Church  of  Christ ; 
and  it  suggests  happier  prospects  than  are  otherwise  possible 
amid  the  existing  confusions  of  the  wTorld  and  of  Christen- 
dom. Last  year  twro  American  preachers2  visited  this 
country,  to  whom  God  had  given,  together  with  earnest 
belief  in  some  portions  of  the  Gospel,  a  corresponding 
spirit  of  fearless  enterprise.  Certainly  they  had  no  such 
credentials  of  an  apostolic  ministry  as  a  well-instructed 
and  believing  Churchman  would  require.  They  knew 
little  or  nothing  of  God's  revealed  Will  respecting  those 
sacramental  channels  whereby  the  life  of  grace  is  planted 
and  maintained  in  the  soul ;  and  their  test  of  ministerial 
success  appeared  sometimes  to  mistake  physical  excitement 
or  inclination  for  a  purely  spiritual  or  moral  change.  And 
yet,  must  not  we,  who  through  no  merit  of  our  own,  have 
enjoyed  greater  spiritual  advantages  than  theirs,  feel  and 
express  for  these  men  a  sincere  respect,  when,  acting 
according  to  the  light  which  God  had  given  them,  they 

1  Wisd.  i.  7. 

2  The  allusion  is  to  the  visit  of  Messrs.  Moody  and  Sankey,  in  1875. 


92 


Influences  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 


Serm. 


threw  themselves  on  our  great  cities  with  the  ardour  of 
Apostles;  spoke  of  a  higher  world  to  thousands  who  pass 
the  greater  part  of  life  in  dreaming  only  of  this ;  and  made 
many  of  us  feel  that  we  owe  them  at  least  the  debt  of  an 
example,  which  He  Who  breatheth  where  He  listeth  must 
surely  have  inspired  them  to  give  us  ? 

III. 

Our  Lord's  words  apply  especially  to  Christian  character. 
There  are  some  effects  of  the  living  power  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  which  are  invariable.  When  He  dwells  with  a 
Christian  soul,  He  continually  speaks  in  the  voice  of  con- 
science ;  He  speaks  in  the  voice  of  prayer.  He  produces 
with  the  ease  of  a  natural  process,  without  effort,  without 
the  taint  of  self-consciousness,  "  love,  joy,  peace,  long- 
suffering,  gentleness,  goodness,  faith,  meekness,  temper- 
ance." 1  Some  of  these  graces  must  be  found  where  He 
makes  His  home.  There  is  no  mistaking  the  atmosphere 
of  His  presence :  in  its  main  features  it  is  the  same  now 
as  in  the  days  of  the  Apostles.  Just  as  in  natural 
morality  the  main  elements  of  "goodness"  do  not  change; 
so  in  religious  life,  spirituality  is,  amid  great  varieties  of 
detail,  yet  in  its  leading  constituent  features,  the  same 
thing  from  one  generation  to  another.  But  in  the  life  of 
the  individual  Christian,  or  in  that  of  the  Church,  there 
is  legitimate  room  for  irregular  and  exceptional  forms  of 
activity  or  excellence.  Natural  society  is  not  strengthened 
by  the  stern  repression  of  all  that  is  peculiar  in  indi- 
vidual thought  or  practice ; 2  and  this  is  not  less  true  of 
spiritual  or  religious  society.  From  the  first,  high  forms 
of  Christian  excellence  have  often  been  associated  with 
unconscious  eccentricity.  The  eccentricity  must  be  un- 
conscious, because  consciousness  of  eccentricity  at  once 

1  Gal.  v.  22,  23.  2  Mill's  Essay  of  Liberty,  chap.  iii. 


Y.J  Influences  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  93 

reduces  it  to  a  form  of  vanity  which  is  entirely  incon- 
sistent with  Christian  excellence.    How  many  excellent 
Christians  have  been  eccentric,  deviating  more  or  less  from 
the  conventional  type  of  goodness  which  has  been  re- 
cognised by  contemporary  religious  opinion !    They  pass 
away,  and  when  they  are  gone  men  do  justice  to  their 
characters;  but  while  they  are  still  with  us  how  hard 
do  many  of  us  find  it  to  remember  that  there  may  be  a 
higher  reason  for  their  peculiarities  than  we  think  We 
know  not  the  full  purpose  of  each  saintly  life  in  the 
designs  of  Providence ;  we  know  not  much  of  the  depths 
and  heights  whence  it  draws  its  inspirations ;  we  cannot 
tell  whence  it  cometh  or  whither  it  goeth.    Only  we  know 
that  He  Whose  workmanship  it  is  bloweth  where  He 
listeth ;  and  this  naturally  leads  us  to  remark  the  practical 
interpretation  which  the  Holy  Spirit  often  puts  upon  our 
Lord's  words  by  selecting  as  His  chosen  workmen  those 
who  seem  to  be  least  fitted  by  nature  for  such  high  service. 
The  Apostle  has  told  us  how  in  the  first  age  He  set  Himself 
to  defeat  human  anticipations.    "  Not  many  wise  men 
after  the  flesh,  not  many  mighty,  not  many  noble,  are 
called ; " 1  learned  academies,  powerful  connections,  gentle 
blood  did  little  enough  for  the  Gospel  in  the  days  when  it 
won  its  first  and  greatest  victories.    The  Holy  Spirit,  as 
Nicodemus  knew,  passed  by  the  varied  learning  and  high 
station  of  the  Sanhedrin,  and  breathed  where  He  listed  on 
the  peasants  of  Galilee  ;  He  breathed  on  them  a  power 
which  would  shake  the  world.    And  thus  has  it  been 
again  and  again  in  the  generations  which  have  followed. 
When  the  great  Aquinas  wras  a  student  of  philosophy 
under  Albertus  Magnus  at  Cologne,  he  was  known  among 
his  contemporaries  as  "  the  dumb  Ox ; "  so  little  did  they 
divine  what  was  to  be  his  place  in  the  theology  of  Western 
Christendom.    And  to  those  of  us  who  can  look  back  upon 

1  1  Cor.  i.  26. 


94  Influences  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  [Serm. 


the  memories  of  this  University  for  a  quarter  of  a  century 
or  more,  few  things  appear  more  remarkable  than  the  sur- 
prises which  the  later  life  of  men  constantly  afford; 
sometimes  it  is  a  failure  of  early  natural  promise,  but  more 
often  a  rich  development  of  intellectual  and  practical 
capacity  where  there  had  seemed  to  be  no  promise  at  all. 
We  can  remember,  perhaps,  some  dull  quiet  man  who 
seemed  to  be  without  a  ray  of  genius,  or,  stranger  still, 
without  anything  interesting  or  marked  in  character,  but 
who  now  exerts,  and  most  legitimately,  the  widest  influ- 
ence for  good,  and  whose  name  is  repeated  by  thousands 
with  grateful  respect.  Or  we  can  call  to  mind  another 
whose  whole  mind  was  given  to  what  was  frivolous,  or 
even  degrading,  and  who  now  is  a  leader  in  everything 
that  elevates  and  improves  his  fellows.  The  secret  of 
these  transfigurations  is  ever  the  same.  In  those  days 
these  men  did  not  yet  see  their  way;  they  were  like 
travellers  through,  the  woods  at  night,  when  the  sky  is 
hidden  and  all  things  seem  to  be  other  than  they  are — 

"  Quale  per  incertam  luriam  sub  luce  maligna 
Est  iter  in  silvis,  ubi  coelum  condidit  umbr4 
Jupiter,  et  rebus  nox  abstulit  atra  colorem." 

Since  then  the  sun  has  risen  and  all  has  changed.  The 
creed  of  the  Church  of  Christ,  in  its  beauty  and  its  power, 
has  been  flashed  by  the  Divine  Spirit  upon  their  hearts 
and  understandings ;  and  they  are  other  men.  They  have 
seen  that  there  is  something  worth  living  for  in  earnest ; 
that  God,  the  soul,  the  future,  are  immense  realities,  com- 
pared with  which  all  else  is  tame  and  insignificant.  They 
have  learned  something  of  that  personal  love  of  our  crucified 
Lord,  which  is  itself  a  moral  and  religious  force  of  the 
highest  order,  and  which  has  carried  them  forwards  without 
their  knowing  it.  And  what  has  been  will  assuredly 
repeat  itself.    Some  of  you  who  listen,  if  you  are  living 


V.]  Influences  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 


95 


thirty  years  hence,  will  verify  their  experiences  by  your 
own. 

In  conclusion,  our  Lord's  words  suggest  many  lessons, 
but  one  of  especial  and  incontrovertible  importance; 
reverence  for  the  presence  and  work  of  that  Holy  Visitor 
Whose  festival  this  is.  Reverence  for  Him,  in  the  Bible 
w7hich  He  inspires ;  in  the  Church  which  He  governs  and 
sanctifies  ;  in  the  souls,  whether  thy  own  or  another's,  which 
He  deigns  to  tenant.  It  is  easy  to  become  familiar  with  the 
outward  tokens  of  His  presence  ;  to  use  language  which  has 
no  meaning  apart  from  Him ;  to  forget  that  He  is  the 
Lord  and  Giver  of  Life,  without  Whom  Holy  Scripture, 
the  Church,  the  New  Birth,  the  New  Life,  would  be 
empty  phrases.  If  nature  is  full  of  interest  and  wonder ;  if 
the  bodily  frame  which  we  inhabit,  like  the  sea  or  the 
sky,  are  ever  presenting  to  us  new  material  for  thought; 
much  more  is  this  the  case  with  the  mysterious  depths  of 
the  human  soul.  And  few  things,  perhaps,  weigh  more 
heavily  on  those  of  us  who  know7  that  life  is  already  on  the 
wane,  and  that  the  greater  number  of  the  years  for  which 
we  shall  answer  hereafter  must  have  already  passed,  than 
the  recollection  which  at  times  steals  over  us,  of  that  almost 
unnoticed  multitude  of  thoughts,  feelings,  aspirations, 
pointing  upwards  and  onwards,  which  have  presented 
themselves  in  the  presence-chamber  of  the  soul,  and  then 
have  vanished  away,  and  left  no  trace  behind.  Whence 
came  they  ?  Those  glimpses  of  nobler  truth,  those  sudden 
cravings  after  a  higher  existence,  those  fretful  uneasy 
yearnings,  full  of  wholesome  dissatisfaction  with  self,  those 
whisperings,  those  voices,  which  would  not  for  a  while 
allow  us  to  rest,  but  which,  as  the  years  have  passed — is  it 
not  often  thus  ? — have  died  away  into  silence.  Whence 
'  came  they ;  and  whither  should  they  have  led  us  on  ? 
Ah !  we  have  said  to  ourselves,  or  the  world  has  said  to 


g6  Influences  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  [Serm. 


us,  that  the  foolish  enthusiasm  of  youth  has  passed,  aud 
that  with  middle  age  we  have  succeeded  to  common  sense 
and  to  ripe  discretion.  It  may  be  so ;  but  there  is,  at  least 
in  some  cases,  another  way  of  reading  the  result.  It  is 
too  possible  that  something  more  than  fervid  indiscretion 
has  been  lost  with  youth;  that  the  bloom  of  the  soul, 
the  freshness  and  tenderness  of  the  conscience,  has  been 
succeeded  by  a  condition  of  thought  and  feeling,  the  true 
character  of  which  we  conceal  from  ourselves  and  from 
others  when  we  label  it  "  discretion  "  and  "  common  sense." 
Depend  upon  it,  my  younger  brethren,  the  bright,  self- 
sacrificing  enthusiasms  of  early  manhood  are  among  the 
most  precious  things  in  the  whole  course  of  human  life. 
They  may  have  their  illusions,  but  they  have  their  safe- 
guards also ;  and  when  they  emancipate  us  from  all  that 
would  force  us  down,  when  they  clear  the  spirit's  eye  and 
nerve  the  bodily  arm,  when  they  enable  us  to  tread  under 
our  feet  some  clinging  mischief  which  has  made  us 
wretched  for  years,  and  open  out  horizons  of  disinterested 
effort  from  which  we  already  draw  the  inspiration  of  a 
higher  life,  surely  we  do  well  to  cherish  them.  Amidst 
much  which  is  depressing  in  the  religious  circumstances 
and  prospects  of  this  place,  Christians  have  signal  reason 
humbly  to  thank  God  the  Holy  Ghost  for  the  impulse 
which  He  has  given  of  late  to  missionary  enterprise;  for 
the  noble  men,  known  to  not  a  few  of  us  as  teachers  or  as 
friends,  whom  He  has  sent  out  from  our  midst  within  the 
last  two  years  to  rule  His  flock  in  heathen  lands ; 1  and 
for  the  young,  warm,  and  generous  hearts  whom  human 
affection,  deepened  and  sanctified  by  the  supernatural 
love  of  God,  has  gathered  around  them  as  a  band  of 
devoted  sons  and  workers.  This  assuredly  is  the  "  sound  I 
of  the  wind  from  heaven,  of  that  Eternal  Spirit  Who  marks 
in  every  generation  predestined  souls  for  His  higher 
1  Dr.  Coplestone,  Bishop  of  Colombo,  and  Dr.  Mylne,  Bishop  of  Bombay. 


Influences  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 


97 


service ;  of  Whom  none  can  exactly  say  whence  He  comes 
to  them  or  whither  He  is  leading  them ;  Who  breatheth 
where  He  listeth,  not  in  caprice  or  by  accident,  but  be- 
cause He  knows  exactly  whereof  each  of  His  creatures 
is  made,  and  apportions  His  distinctions  with  the  unerring 
decision  of  perfect  Love  and  perfect  Justice. 

"  If  you  make  it  a  rule  to  say  sincerely  the  first  verse 
of  the  Ordination  Hymn  every  morning  without  failing, 
it  will  in  time  do  more  for  you  than  any  other  prayer 
1  know,  except  the  Lord's  Prayer."  They  were  the  words 
of  one  who  had  a  right  to  speak  from  experience,  and  who 
has  now  gone  to  his  rest. 

"  Veni,  Creator  Spiritus, 
Mentes  Tuorum  visita, 
Imple  superna  gratia, 
Quae  Tu  creasti  pectora. " 

Certainly  this  prayer  does  not  take  long  to  say;  and 
perhaps,  fifty  years  hence,  in  another  state  of  existence, 
some  of  us  will  be  glad  to  have  acted  on  the  advice. 


a 


SERMON  VI. 


GROWTH  IN  THE  APPREHENSION  OF  TRUTH. 
Heb.  vi.  i. 

Therefore  leaving  the  principles  of  the  doctrine  of  Christ,  let  us  go  on  unto 
perfection. 

HERE  we  may  see  the  germ  of  what  afterwards  became 
at  Alexandria  and  elsewhere  the  catechetical  sys- 
tem of  the  Primitive  Church.  When  adult  converts  to 
Christianity  were  the  rule,  it  was  necessary  to  protect  the 
Sacrament  of  Baptism  against  unworthy  reception  by  a 
graduated  system  of  preparation  and  teaching,  each  stage 
in  which  represented  an  advance  in  moral  and  intellectual 
truth.  Hence  the  several  classes  of  catechumens;  the 
hearers,  who  were  allowed  to  listen  to  the  Scriptures  and 
to  sermons  in  church ;  the  kneelers,  who  might  stay  and 
join  in  certain  parts  of  the  Divine  service ;  and  the  elect, 
or  enlightened,  who  were  taught  the  Lord's  Prayer, — the 
language  of  the  regenerate,  and  the  Creed, — the  sacred 
trust  committed  to  the  regenerate — since  they  were  now  on 
the  point  of  being  admitted  by  Baptism  into  the  Body  of 
Christ.  Then  at  last,  when  baptized,  as  the  reXeioi,  or 
perfect,  they  entered  on  the  full  privileges  of  believers; 
they  learnt  all  that  was  taught  respecting  the  great  doc- 
trines of  the  Trinity,  the  Incarnation,  the  Atonement,  and 
the  Eucharist,  and  were  thus  placed  in  possession  of  the 


Growth  in  the  Apprehension  of  Truth.  99 


truths  and  motives  which  shape  most  powerfully  Christian 
thought  and  life. 

This  was  the  system  elaborated  by  great  minds  who  suc- 
cessively taught  or  ruled  at  Alexandria,  and  whose  influence 
spread  so  widely  throughout  the  East.  But  its  principle  had 
been  already  sanctioned  in  the  Apostolic  age,  and  in  the 
Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  wTe  see  it  in  its  earliest  form. 
In  this  Epistle  we  have  before  us  two  stages  of  teaching 
and  two  classes  of  learners. 

There  is,  first  of  all,  the  initial  or  rudimentary  stage  of 
Christian  teaching,  which  the  sacred  writer  describes  some- 
times as  "the  elements  of  the  beginning  of  the  oracles 
of  God,"1  sometimes  as  the  "first  discourse  about  Christ/'2 
sometimes  by  metaphors,  familiar  to  St.  Paul,  intended  to 
point  out  its  facility  of  comprehension  or  its  early  place  in 
a  system  of  Christian  teaching,  such  as  "milk"3  or  "the 
foundation."4  The  later  and  complete  stage  of  Christian 
teaching  is  designated  as  the  "  discourse  of  righteousness,"5 
as  "the  solid  meat,"6  in  contrast  with  "milk,"  or,  as  in  the 
words  before  us,  as  "perfection."7  The  Christians  who  are 
receiving  elementary  instruction  are  termed  babes,  vrjirioi  ;8 
they  cannot  understand,  much  less  utter,  the  "  discourse  of 
righteousness."  The  Christians  who  have  received  the 
higher  instruction  are  the  "perfect;"9  they  can  digest  the 
solid  food  of  Christian  doctrine  ;  their  spiritual  senses  have 
been  trained  by  habit  to  appreciate  the  distinction  between 
the  good  and  the  evil,  which  in  this  connection  are  only 
other  names  for  the  false  and  the  true.10 

The  readers,  to  whom  all  this  is  addressed,  are  themselves 
in  an  equivocal  position.    It  is  a  long  time  since  they  were 

1  Heb.  v.  12,  to.  aroix^o-  Trjs  apxysT&v  Xoylcju  rod  Geou. 

2  Heb.  vi.  I,  rbv  Trjs  apxys  rod  Xpiarov  \6yov. 


Heb.  v.  13,  yd\a.KTo$. 


4  Heb.  vi.  1,  6e/j.4\iov. 

6  Heb.  v.  14,  i]  aTepea  rpocpr). 

8  Heb.  v.  13. 

10  Heb.  v.  14. 


5  Heb.  v.  13,  \6yov  diKaioavprjs. 
7  Heb.  vi.  1,  t?>  Te\€i6rr)Ta. 
9  Heb.  v.  14,  re\e<W. 


ioo   Growth  in  the  Apprehension  of  Truth.  [Serm. 


first  converted,  so  long  indeed,  that  they  ought  ere  now  to 
be  busily  teaching  other  converts.1  But,  in  fact,  they  still 
need  to  be  taught  themselves.  They  do  not  know  what 
the  rudiments  of  "the  discourse  about  Christ"  really  are. 
They  ought  to  be  among  "the  perfect;"  they  are  only 
"babes."  They  have  gone  backward  instead  of  going  forward,2 
and  indeed  because  they  have  not  gone  forward ;  and,  if  the 
Apostolic  writer  is  to  continue  the  high  argument  of  his 
Epistle  with  any  hope  of  their  accompanying  him  intelli- 
gently, they  must  at  this  point  make  a  serious  effort,  or 
rather  they  must  surrender  themselves  to  impulses  and  a 
guidance  which  will  carry  them  onward,  if  they  will.  There- 
fore, he  exclaims,  leaving  the  principles  or  the  first  dis- 
cussion about  Christ, — let  us  go  on,  or  be  "borne  on/' 
unto  perfection.3 

Perfection !  what  does  he  mean  by  it  ?  Certainly  not  here 
moral  perfection,  the  attainment  of  conformity  to  the  will 
of  God  in  general  character  and  conduct.  For  this  would 
be  no  such  contrast  to  the  first  principles  of  the  doctrine 
of  Christ  as  the  sentence  of  itself  implies :  the  perfection 
must  itself  be  a  doctrinal  perfection,  in  other  words,  the 
attainment  of  the  complete  or  perfect  truth  about  Christ, 
as  distinct  from  its  first  principles.  Of  these  first  or 
foundation  principles  six  are  enumerated ; 4  and  they  are 
selected  for  the  practical  reason  that  they  were  especially 
needed  by  candidates  for  Baptism.  First  come  the  two 
sides  of  the  great  inward  change  implied  in  conversion  to 
Christ;  repentance  from  all  such  works  as  are  "dead," 
because  destitute  of  a  religious  motive,  and  faith  resting 
upon  God  as  revealed  in  His  Son.  Then  follow  the  two 
ordinances  whereby  the  converted  soul  enters  upon  the 

i  Heb.  v.  12.  2  Heb.  v.  ii,  vtadpol  yeydvare. 

3  The  whole  passage,  Heb.  v.  n — vi.  20,  is  a  digression,  by  which  the 
argument  respecting  Christ's  Melchisedekian  priesthood  is  interrupted. 
It  is  resumed  at  vii.  1.  4  Heb.  vi.  1,  2. 


VL]  Growth  in  the  Apprehension  of  Truth.  101 


privileges  of  full  communion  with  Christ;  the  doctrine 
about  Baptism,  which  distinguishes  the  Christian  sacra- 
ment from  the  mere  symbols  of  purification  insisted  on  for 
proselytes  by  the  Baptist  and  by  the  Law,  and  the  laying 
on  of  hands  in  what  we  now  call  Confirmation.  Finally, 
there  are  the  two  momentous  truths  which  from  the  first 
must  be  motive  powers  in  the  life  of  a  sincere  believer ; 
the  coming  resurrection  of  the  dead,  and  the  judgment 
whose  issues  are  eternal.  These  three  pairs  of  truths  are 
precisely  what  the  writer  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews 
meant  by  the  first  principles  of  the  doctrine  of  Christ. 
And  therefore  by  "perfection"  he  meant  something  be- 
yond these  truths.  He  meant  no  doubt  a  great  deal  else, 
but  he  was  referring  specifically  and  at  the  moment  to 
the  doctrine  of  Christ's  Melchisedekian  priesthood,  in  its 
majestic  contrast  to  the  temporary  and  relatively  ineffi- 
cient priesthood  of  Aaron,  and  with  its  vast  issues  in  a 
Mediatorial  work,  whether  of  atonement  or  of  sanctifica- 
tion,  as  carried  out,  the  latter  to  the  very  end  of  time,  by 
the  Great  High  Priest  of  Christendom. 


I 

Now  the  point  on  which  the  text  insists  is  the  duty  of 
going  forward  from  the  first  principles  to  the  truths  beyond 
— eis  rrjv  reXeiorrjra  (pepcojueOa.  What  are  the  intrinsic 
reasons  which  point  to  this  ?  Undoubtedly  the  first  is 
that  a  Christian,  as  such,  believes  himself  to  be  in  posses- 
sion, partly  or  altogether,  of  a  Revelation  which  God  has 
made  to  man.  Revelation  is  one  of  those  momentous 
words  which  has  lost  its  edge  in  these  later  times  through 
being  used  by  accommodation  in  new  connections.  No 
Christian  can  be  concerned  to  deny  what  St.  Paul  teaches, 
that  God  has  of  old  instructed  all  men  through  nature  and 


102   Growth  in  the  Apprehension  of  Truth.  [Serm. 

conscience,1  and  that,  as  a  consequence,  elements  of  Divine 
truth  are  embedded,  in  different  degrees  of  purity,  in  the 
various  beliefs  of  the  heathen  world.  But,  the  moral 
nature  of  man  being  what  it  is,  there  is  a  veil  in  all 
heathen  religions  over  the  face  of  God  and  the  true  mean- 
ing of  human  life.  And  the  true  Revelation  is  distin- 
guished from  these  surrounding  conglomerates  of  little  truth 
and  much  error  by  a  twofold  note  :  as  it  comes  to  us  from 
God  it  is  without  any  accompanying  error ;  and  its  arrival 
is  certificated  by  miracle,  which  proclaims  the  identity  of 
the  Author  of  Nature  with  the  Euler  of  the  Moral  World 
speaking  in  the  Revelation.  Ask  yourselves,  brethren,  what 
we  of  to-day  can  do,  what  others  have  done,  and  are  doing, 
if  Revelation  be  discarded.  What,  indeed,  but  enter  on  a 
weary  round  of  guesses  and  retractations  ?  Whence  do  we 
come  ?  Whither  are  we  going  ?  Why  are  we  here  at  all  ? 
These  are  irrepressible  questions,  to  which  Reason  does  her 
best,  from  age  to  age,  to  furnish  replies :  but  at  her  best 
she  hesitates,  she  falters,  she  contradicts  herself,  she  is 
perpetually  discouraged  by  the  sense  of  her  powerlessness, 
she  hastily  affirms,  and  then  forthwith  she  is  frightened  at 
her  affirmation,  she  sinks  back  in  perplexity  and  silence. 
So  it  was  among  the  cultivated  heathen  before  Christ  came ; 
so  it  is  still  where  modern  thought  has  rejected  Christianity. 
Agnosticism  is  not  a  term  of  reproach  to  those  whose 
opinions  it  describes ;  yet  what  is  it  but  a  confession  of 
their  impotence,  face  to  face  with  the  most  vital  problems 
that  can  engage  the  mind  of  man  ?  And  therefore — to 
quote  language  which  is  not  strictly  theological,  but 
which  may  be  taken  to  represent  the  broad  aspects  of  the 
fact  before  us — "  Divine  Providence,  in  compassion  to  the 
frailty,  the  imperfection,  and  the  blindness  of  human  reason, 
hath  been  pleased,  at  sundry  times  and  in  divers  manners, 
to  discover  and  enforce  its  laws  by  an  immediate  and 

1  Rom.  i.  19,  20. 


VI. 


Growth  in  the  Apprehensio7i  of  Trtcth.  103 


direct  Revelation.  The  doctrines  thus  delivered  we  call 
the  Revealed  or  Divine  Law,  and  they  are  to  be  found  only 
in  the  Holy  Scriptures."  1 

With  those  who  dispute  the  fact  that  God  has  spoken 
thus  to  man,  not  merely  through  nature  or  conscience,  or 
both,  but  through  His  Son  Jesus  Christ,  and  through  other 
teachers  on  whom  Christ  set  the  seal  of  His  Divine 
authority,  I  am  not  for  the  moment  disputing.  Enough 
to  say  that  the  supreme  certificate  of  the  reality  of  the 
Christian  Revelation  is  the  fact  that  Christ  rose  from  the 
dead.  Deny  this  fact,  and — forgive  a  stern  word  for  the  sake 
of  its  truth — the  moral  consistency  of  Christ,  no  less  than 
His  redemptive  power,  must  forthwith  disappear  from 
earnest  thought.  Admit  this  fact,  and  the  religion  which  it 
attests  must  mean  not  only  much  more  than,  but  some- 
thing altogether  distinct  in  kind  from,  the  highest  lessons 
God  has  ever  taught  to  the  best  heathen  through  nature 
and  conscience ; — you  are  in  presence  of  a  supernatural 
Revelation. 

And  if  such  a  Revelation,  as  we  Christians  maintain, 
has  indeed  been  given,  then  man's  wisdom  and  business  is 
to  make  the  most  of  it.  If  such  a  body  of  truth  is  really 
within  our  reach,  it  is  of  importance,  not  merely  to  theolo- 
gians, but  to  human  beings  as  such ;  it  cannot  be  neglected 
with  impunity.  As  knowledge  it  is  worth  more  than  any 
other  knowledge.  It  enables  us  to  know  a  Being  Who  is 
infinitely  greater,  wiser,  more  powerful,  and  more  nearly 
related  to  us  than  any  other  being.  It  touches  us  more 
closely  in  our  deepest  and  most  lasting  interests  than  any 
other  department  or  kind  of  knowledge.  Surely  if  God 
speaks,  reverence  bids  us  listen  until  we  have  heard  all 
that  He  is  saying.  Surely  if  God  speaks,  the  common 
sense  which  He  has  given  us  bids  us  listen  until  we  know 
what  is  the  bearing  of  His  utterance  on  ourselves.  The 

1  Blackstone,  Commentaries  on  the  Laws  of  England,  Introduction,  §  2. 


104  Growth  in  the  Apprehension  of  Truth.  [Serm. 


man  in  the  parable  who  sells  all  that  he  has  that  he  may 
buy  the  field  in  which  the  treasure  is  hid,  will  surely  do 
his  best  to  appreciate  the  treasure  when  he  has  found  it.1 
If  it  was  prudent  to  make  the  original  effort,  it  is  prudent 
to  follow  it  up :  if  it  is  our  wisdom  to  be  Christians  at  all, 
it  is  not  less  our  wisdom  to  make  the  most  we  can  of  the 
Creed  of  Christendom. 

This  then  is  a  first  reason  for  going  on  to  what  the  text 
calls  "  perfection  :  "  everything  in  a  Eevelation  which  comes 
from  God  must,  from  the  nature  of  the  case,  be  worth  the 
best  attention  that  we  can  give  it.  But  another  reason 
will  be  found  in  the  nature  of  Eevealed  Truth  itself. 
Eevealed  Truth  is  not  a  series  of  propositions,  having  no 
relation  to  each  other,  and  out  of  which  the  human  intellect 
may  take  its  choice.  It  is  not  like  a  scrap-book,  made  up 
of  extracts  from  all  the  religions  of  the  world,  which  have 
been  brought  together  by  some  master  of  eclectic  industry. 
Nor  is  it  like  a  museum  of  statues,  in  which  each  com- 
position is  complete  and  has  no  necessary  relation  to  the 
figures  around  it.  It  is  an  organic  whole,  every  portion  of 
which  is  as  perfectly  connected  with  the  rest  as  are 
the  limbs  of  a  living  creature  with  its  trunk  and  heart. 
Thus  there  is  a  nexus  between  all  truths  which  fairly 
belong  to  the  substance  of  Eevelation ;  a  relationship  at 
once  so  intimate  and  so  persuasive  that  the  believing  soul 
cannot  but  be  drawn  onward  from  truth  to  truth.  The 
vital  principle  of  a  Divine  authority  which  belongs  to  each 
truth  is  common  to  all ;  the  intrinsic  dependence  of  each 
truth  upon  the  others  is  profound  and  reciprocal:  and 
thus  a  believer  passes  from  one  truth  to  another,  not  by 
a  fresh  intellectual  jerk  or  effort,  but  in  obedience  to  a 
sense  of  sequence  which  he  cannot  resist. 

Yes  !  It  is  on  this  account  that  the  believing  soul,  clinging 
to  the  first  principles  of  Christian  doctrine,  must  needs 

1  St.  Matt.  xiii.  44. 


VI.]  Growth  in  the  Apprehension  of  Truth.  105 


advance  to  perfection.  The  Apostolic  writer  does  not  say, 
"  Let  us  go  on  unto  perfection  ;  "  he  does  say,  "  Let  us  be 
borne  on," — (pepwimeOa.  He  does  not  say,  "  Be  courageously 
logical :  push  forward  your  premises  to  their  last  conclu- 
sions." He  does  say,  "  Let  us  all,  teachers  and  taught,  trust 
ourselves  to  the  guidance  of  such  truth  as  we  already 
hold," — (pepwjueOa.  It  will  carry  us  on  as  we  try  to  make 
it  our  own :  it  will  lead  us  to  the  connected  and  derived 
truths  which  expand,  explain,  support  it.  We  cannot 
select  some  one  shred  of  this  organic  whole,  baptize  it  by 
such  names  as  "  primary  "  or  "  fundamental,"  and  then  say, 
"This,  and  this  only,  shall  be  my  creed."  If  the  metaphor 
be  permitted,  the  trunk  whose  limbs  are  cut  off  thus 
arbitrarily  will  bleed  to  death.  Where  spiritual  life  de- 
pends on  spiritual  activity,  non  progredi  est  regredi ;  and 
they  who  shrink  from  Apostolic  perfection  will  forfeit  their 
hold,  sooner  or  later,  on  Apostolic  first  principles. 
Let  us  trace  this  somewhat  more  in  detail. 


We  have  seen  what  were  the  six  first  principles  insisted 
on  among  the  first  readers  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews. 
They  belonged  to  the  disciplinary  system  of  the  Church, 
and  were  selected  on  practical  rather  than  theological 
grounds.  But  what  would  probably  be  the  first  principles 
of  an  inquirer  feeling  his  way  upwards  towards  the  light 
under  the  circumstances  of  our  own  day  ?  What  would  be 
the  truths  that  would  greet  him  on  the  threshold  of  faith,  as 
the  catechumen  of  our  time,  whom  conscience  and  thought 
are  training  for  the  full  inheritance  of  believers  ? 

They  would  be,  in  all  probability,  first — belief  in  a  moral 
God.  The  inquirer  discovers  within  himself  an  indestruc- 
tible sense  of  the  value  and  beauty  of  holiness,  of  justice, 
of  truth,  of  love.    He  admires  these  excellences  in  others 


ro6   Growth  in  the  Apprehension  of  Truth.  [Serm. 


even  when  he  is  conscious  of  being  himself  without  them; 
and  he  rises  out  of  himself  to  conceive  a  Being  in  Whom 
they  exist  as  in  their  source,  and  in  an  undimmed  perfec- 
tion. It  is  something  to  believe  in  a  Cause  Who  is  the 
cause  of  all  that  is  besides  Himself.  It  is  more  to  believe 
in  an  Intelligence,  the  parent  of  all  other  intelligences. 
But  religion  properly  begins  when  a  man  bows  before  One 
WTho,  being  boundless  Power  and  Wisdom,  is  also  Justice, 
Sanctity,  and  Love. 

At  the  same  time  the  modern  catechumen  would  pro- 
bably be  attracted  by  the  character  of  Jesus  Christ  as  it 
lies  on  the  surface  of  the  Gospels.  He  need  not  yet  be  a 
believer  in  order  to  discover  that  in  the  Gospels  the  human 
soul  meets  with  that  which  it  meets  nowhere  else — an  ideal 
of  moral  beauty  at  once  so  winning  and  so  awful  as  to 
command  its  homage.  Eenan  will  tell  him  that  Jesus  will 
never  be  surpassed ; 1  and  Goethe,  that  Jesus  is  the  type 
and  model  for  all  men ; 2  and  Eousseau,  that  if  the  life  and 
death  of  Socrates  are  those  of  a  sage,  the  life  and  death  of 
Jesus  are  those  of  a  God.3  A  working  carpenter,  Who 
dies  when  He  is  thirty-three  years  old ;  Who  has  neither 
education,  nor  patronage,  nor  wealth  at  his  command; 
Who  lives,  let  us  note  it  once  again,  poor,  as  it  seems, 
inexperienced,  unknown,  unbefriended,  yet  speaks  to  the 
conscience  of  all  time,  and  offers  an  example  before  which 
even  those  who  reject  His  claims  are  silent, — awed  into 
involuntary  reverence,  almost  into  love. 

These,  we  will  suppose,  are  the  inquirer's  two  first  prin- 
ciples, the  goodness  of  God,  and  the  perfection  of  Christ's 
character.  They  are  now  beyond  controversy,  at  least  for 
him.  They  seem  to  be  all  that  he  needs ;  and  he  says  to 
himself  that  a  simple  faith  like  this,  which  perhaps  he  will 
be  told  is  Christian  Theism,  is  a  working  faith.  He  can  at 
least  live  it,  or  try  to  live  it,  and  leave  the  spheres  of  abstract 
1  Vie  de  Jesus,  p.  325.    2  Dial,  with  Eckermann,  vol.  iii.    3  Emile,  1.  vl 


VI.]  Growth  in  the  Apprehension  of  Truth.  107 


and  metaphysical  controversy  to  those  who  like  to  explore 
thern. 

But  if  he  thinks,  a  time  will  come  when  he  finds  that 
he  must  go  forward  if  he  is  not  to  fall  back.  For  he 
observes,  first  of  all,  that  this  world,  the  scene  of  so  nmch 
wickedness  and  so  much  suffering,  is  hard  to  reconcile 
with  the  idea  of  God,  All-good  and  All-powerful,  if  indeed 
He  has  left  or  is  leaving  it  to  itself.  If  God  is  All-good, 
He  surely  will  unveil  Himself  further  to  His  reasonable 
creatures ;  nay,  He  will  do  something  more,  His  revelation 
will  be,  in  some  sense,  a  cure.  Exactly  proportioned  to 
belief  in  the  morality  of  God  is  the  felt  strength  of  this 
presumption  in  favour  of  a  Divine  intervention  of  some 
kind :  and  the  modern  catechumen  asks  himself  if  the 
Epicurean  deities  themselves  would  not  do  almost  as  well 
as  a  moral  God,  Who  yet,  in  the  plenitude  of  His  power, 
should  leave  creatures  formed  by  Himself  to  think  and 
to  struggle  without  the  light  or  the  aid  they  so  greatly 
need. 

This  is  a  first  observation,  and  a  second  is  that,  if  the 
character  of  Jesus  Christ  be  attentively  studied,  it  implies 
that  His  life  cannot  be  supposed  to  fall  entirely  within  the 
limits  or  under  the  laws  of  what  we  call  "  nature."  For  if 
anything  is  certain  about  Him,  this  is  certain,  that  He 
invited  men  to  love  Him,  trust  Him,  obey  Him  even  to 
death,  and  in  terms  which  would  be  intolerable  if  after  all 
He  was  merely  human.  Human  nature  has  had  time  to 
take  the  measure  of  itself,  and  it  knows  what  is  com- 
patible with  the  just  limits  of  its  pretensions.  Christ,  as 
judged  by  His  claims  on  others,  is  very  much  more  than 
a  mere  man,  or  it  is  impossible  to  maintain  that  He  was 
a  good  man.  And  therefore  our  modern  catechumen  feels 
that  it  is  not  enough  to  admire,  even  warmly,  the  char- 
acter of  Christ;  a  necessity,  moral  as  well  as  logical,  is 
laid  upon  his  apprehension  of  it ;  he  must  let  himself  be 


io8    Growth  in  the  Apprehension  of  Truth.  [Serm. 


borne  on  to  a  perfection  that  yet  awaits  him;  he  must 
ascend  to  a  higher  truth  beyond. 

ISTor  is  this  advance  inevitable,  only  on  account  of  the 
claims  which  Christ  makes  upon  mankind.  It  is  made 
necessary  by  His  sayings  about  Himself.  Thus,  He  ex- 
pressly foretold  that  He  should  be  crucified  and  should 
rise  from  the  dead.1  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  Christian 
Church  exists  at  this  hour  because  it  has  been  believed  for 
eighteen  centuries  and  a  half  that  His  words  were  verified 
by  the  event.  Had  He  been  crucified,  only  then  to  rot, 
whether  in  an  undistinguished  or  in  a  celebrated  grave,  the 
human  conscience  would  have  known  w7hat  to  say  of  Him. 
It  would  have  traced  over  His  sepulchre  the  epitaph 
"  failure ; "  and  it  would  have  forthwith  struck  a  significant 
balance  between  the  attractive  elements  of  His  character  and 
the  utterly  unwarranted  exaggeration  of  His  pretensions. 

But  our  modern  catechumen's  reflections  could  not  end 
here.  For  the  character  of  God,  and  of  Jesus  Christ  in 
the  Gospels,  is  in  one  respect  like  the  old  Mosaic  law; 
it  provokes  a  sense  of  guilt  by  its  revelation  of  what 
righteousness  really  is.  The  more  we  really  know  about 
God, — about  our  Lord,  the  less  can  we  be  satisfied  with 
ourselves.  It  is  not  possible  for  a  man  whose  moral  sense 
is  not  dead  only  to  admire  Jesus  Christ  as  if  He  were  an 
exquisite  creation  of  art, — a  painting  in  a  gallery  or  a  statue 
in  a  museum  of  antiquities, — and  without  the  thought, 
What  do  His  perfections  say  to  me  ?  For  Jesus  Christ 
shows  us  what  human  nature  has  been  when  at  its  best;  and 
in  showing  us  this  He  reveals  us  individually  to  ourselves. 
Of  His  character  we  may  say  what  St.  Paul  says  of  the 
law,  that  it  is  a  schoolmaster  to  bring  us  to  Himself.  It 
makes  us  dissatisfied  with  our  own  attainments,  if  anything 
can  do  so :  it  forces  us  to  recognise  the  worthlessness  and 

1  St.  Matt.  xii.  39,  40;  xx.  19;  xxvii.  40,  63.  St.  Mark  xiv.  58. 
St.  John  ii.  19. 


VI.]  Growth  in  the  Apprehension  of  Truth.  109 

poverty  of  our  natural  resources ;  it  throws  a  true,  though 
it  be  an  unwelcome  light  upon  the  history  of  our  past 
existence ;  and  thus  it  disposes  us  to  listen  anxiously  and 
attentively  for  any  further  disclosures  of  the  Divine  Mind 
that  may  be  either  in  store  for  us  or  already  within  our 
reach. 

In  this  way  the  "  first  principles  "  which  we  have  been 
attributing  to  an  inquirer  of  our  day  may  prepare  him  for 
truths  beyond  themselves.  That  Divine  Goodness,  those 
perfections  of  the  character  of  Christ,  bear  the  soul  onwards 
towards  Christ's  true  Divinity,  and,  as  a  consequence,  to 
the  atoning  virtue  of  His  death  upon  the  Cross.  These 
momentous  realities  rest  on  grounds  of  their  own  :  but  they 
bring  satisfaction,  repose,  relief  to  souls  who  have  atten- 
tively considered  what  is  involved  in  such  truths  as  those 
which  lie  on  the  threshold  of  the  life  of  faith.  They  pro- 
claim that  God  has  not  left  men  to  themselves :  that  He 
does  not  despise  the  work  of  His  own  hands.  They  unveil 
His  heart  of  tenderness  for  man.  They  justify  the  language 
which  Jesus  Christ  used  about  Himself,  and  His  claims  on 
the  faith  and  the  obedience  of  mankind.  And  they  enable 
us  to  bear  the  quickened  consciousness  of  personal  sin  which 
follows  upon  true  insight  into  His  human  character,  because 
we  now  know  that,  in  the  garden  of  the  Agony  and  on  the 
Cross,  He  was  made  "to  be  sin  for  us  Who  knew  no  sin? 
that  Ave  might  be  made  the  righteousness  of  God  in  Him."1 

But  does  the  advance  toAvards  perfection  cease  at  this 
point  ?  Surely  not.  Where  so  much  has  been  done,  there 
is  a  presumption  in  favour  of  something  more,  if  more 
be  needed.  The  Divine  Christ  has  died  on  the  Cross  a 
Victim  for  the  sins  of  the  Avorld :  what  is  He  doing  now  ? 
Did  His  redemptive  love  exhaust  itself  in  the  days  of  His 
flesh  ?  The  past  has  been  forgiven;  but  has  any  provision 
been  made  for  the  future  ?    Have  Ave  been  reconciled  to 

1  2  Cor.  v.  21. 


1 1  o   Growth  in  the  Apprehension  of  Truth.  [Serm. 


God  by  the  death  of  His  Son,  but  is  there  no  salvation 
through  His  risen  life  I1  May  not  reconciliation  itself  be 
almost  a  dubious  boon  if  it  be  followed  by  an  almost 
inevitable  relapse  ? 

Here,  therefore,  the  soul  makes  a  further  stage  in  its 
advance  to  perfection.  Its  eye  opens  upon  the  work  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  Who  conveys  to  man  the  gift  of  that  new 
human  nature  which  is  for  ever  united  in  Jesus  Christ  to 
the  Person  of  the  Eternal  Son.  It  is  mainly  through  the 
Christian  Sacraments  that  the  Spirit  unites  us  to  the  per- 
fect Manhood  of  the  Eedeemer.  And  it  is  by  a  consequence 
as  natural  as  that  which  leads  from  Christ's  character  to 
His  Divinity  and  Atonement,  that  we  pass  on  from  His 
Atonement  to  the  sacramental  aspects  of  His  mediatorial 
work.  He  bestows  the  New  Nature  in  Holy  Baptism; 
"As  many  as  have  been  baptized  into  Christ  have  put 
on  Christ."2  He  strengthens  the  New  Nature  in  the 
Blessed  Eucharist ;  "  He  that  eateth  Me,  even  he  shall  live 
by  Me." 3  This  crowning  gift  does  but  complete  what  was 
begun  when  He  became  first  our  Example,  and  then  the 
Propitiation  for  our  sins.  And  the  reality  of  this  gift  is 
guaranteed  by  a  divinely-instituted  organization;  so  that  the 
threefold  Apostolic  ministry,  to  which  the  dispensation  of 
the  Word  and  Sacraments  is  committed,  is  an  integral  part 
of  that  perfection  of  truth  to  which  intelligent  faith  con- 
ducts the  soul.  In  other  words,  the  Epistles  to  the  Ephe- 
sians,  to  Timothy,  and  to  Titus,  contain  teaching  as  essential 
to  the  completeness  of  the  Gospel  system  as  are  the  argu- 
ments in  the  Epistles  to  the  Romans  and  the  Galatians; 
and  the  Christian  Creed  has  not  said  its  last  word  to  the 
soul  of  man  until,  besides  assuring  his  reconciliation  and 
peace,  it  has  satisfied  his  desire  for  assured  union  with 
the  Source  of  Life. 

1  Kom.  v.  io.  2  Gal.  iii.  27.  3  gt  j0jm  vi  S7> 


VI.  J  Growth  in  the  Apprehension  of  Truth.    1 1 1 


HI. 

But  at  this  point  we  are  asked  a  question  which  it  is 
impossible  to  ignore.  "  Where  are  you  going  to  stop  ?  Is 
not  your  principle  likely  to  carry  you  further  than  you 
mean  ?  Has  not  the  Church  of  Borne,  too,  her  interpreta- 
tion of  what  is  meant  by  theological  perfection,  and  is  not 
the  tendency  of  your  argument  to  lead  us  to  accept  it?" 

Here  it  is  natural  to  recall  the  boldest  work  of  that 
remarkable  man,  to  whom  many  of  us  can  never  be  slow 
to  confess  our  obligations,  whose  name  will  always  be 
associated  with  Oxford,  and  whose  recent  elevation  to  a 
place  of  honour  in  the  Eoman  Church  has  commanded  the 
attention  and  interest  of  the  world.  His  Essay  on  the 
Development  of  Christian  Doctrine  presents  this  among 
other  aspects  ;  it  is  a  theological  confession.  It  is  a  con- 
fession that  the  creed  of  the  modern  Church  of  Eome 
cannot  be  said  to  be  strictly  identical  with  the  creed  of 
the  Apostles ;  that  at  the  best  they  are  linked  with  each 
other  by  a  law  of  substantial  growth,  as  is  the  oak  with 
the  acorn  ;  and  even  that  Eoman  Catholicism  in  its  full 
development  contains  elements  which  have  no  germinal 
count  erpart  in  the  age  of  the  Apostles,  since  they  have  come 
to  it  by  accretion  from  without.  Bellarmine  and  Bossuet 
had  supposed  that  the  Eoman  faith  in  the  sixteenth  and 
seventeenth  centuries  respectively  was  exactly  the  faith  of 
the  Apostolic  and  Primitive  Church.  But,  writing  in  the 
nineteenth,  Mohler  and  Newman  knew  too  much  to  enter- 
tain such  a  supposition.  There  were  patent  differences 
which  had  to  be  accounted  for  in  some  way;  and  there 
were  tendencies  in  modern  thought  not  unlikely  to  suggest 
or  to  recommend  the  method  that  actually  presented  itself. 
The  theory  of  development,  in  its  English  form,  was  the 
most  striking  apology  that  could  be  made  for  a  step  to 


1 1 2    Growth  in  the  A pprehension  of  Truth.  [Serm. 


which  its  author  was  led  by  independent  considerations ; 
but  it  is  an  apology  which  would  serve  other  causes,  ancient 
and  modern,  at  least  as  well  as  that  of  the  Church  of 
Eome.  The  ingenious  Gnostics  against  whom  St.  Irenseus 
wrote,  as  well  as  some  modern  philosophical  theorists  of  a 
different  stamp,  were  also  developmentalists;  we  know  how 
much  it  is  proposed  to  explain  in  morals  not  less  than  in 
physics  or  psychology  by  the  kindred  and  more  familiar 
formula  of  evolution.  And  St.  Irenseus'  position  still  holds 
good.  The  Church  cannot  know  more  than  was  known  by 
the  Apostles ;  and  anything  which  men  might  claim  to 
know  which  was  unknown  to  the  Apostles  is  not  Apostolic 
doctrine,  but  something  else. 

"  Go  on  unto  perfection."  Yes  :  but  the  Hebrew  Chris- 
tians are  not  bidden  to  create,  but  to  explore.  They  are 
to  explore  a  faith  which  was  once  for  all  delivered  to  the 
saints,  and  the  several  parts  of  which  are  organically  con- 
nected with  each  other.  They  are  not  to  assist  in  the 
production  of  substantial  additions  to  this  original  deposit, 
as  if  they  were  themselves  the  organs  of  a  continuous 
revelation. 

Take  one  illustration  out  of  several.  Let  us  suppose 
that  we  are  travelling  during  the  month  of  August,  and 
that  we  find  ourselves  within  the  walls  of  some  foreign 
cathedral  on  the  great  festival  of  the  Assumption.  Every- 
thing betokens  an  occasion  of  the  highest  order  of  religious 
importance  ;  the  attendance  of  the  people  and  the  character 
of  the  services  are  exactly  what  they  would  be  on  Easter 
Day  And  if  we  examine  the  Service-books  we  observe 
that  there  is  no  appreciable  difference  in  the  amount  of  new 
matter  proper  to  the  festival ;  it  is,  in  liturgical  language,  a 
"  double  of  the  first  class."  And  perhaps  the  choir  sings 
in  our  ears,  "  Exaltata  est  sancta  Dei  genitrix  super  choros 
angelorum  ad  ccelestia  regna ;"  and  the  preacher  enlarges 
on  the  glories  and  prerogatives  of  Mary  as  the  Queen  of 


VI.]  Growth  in  the  Apprehension  of  Truth.  113 

Heaven.  In  short,  nothing  is  wanting  that  can  arouse  or 
direct  devotional  enthusiasm ;  and  the  natural  inference  is 
that  the  event  commemorated  must  be  among  the  truths 
that  lie  closest  to  the  heart  of  the  believing  and  adoring 
Church. 

But  on  what  does  it  all  rest  ?  The  question  will  surely 
present  itself  when  we  return  to  our  homes.  Certainly  on 
nothing  in  Holy  Scripture.  There  is  indeed  a  passage  in 
the  Apocalypse  which  has  been  referred  to  Mary  after  her 
death,1  but  by  a  method  of  interpretation  scarcely  less 
fanciful  and  arbitrary  than  are  those  by  which  controver- 
sial imagination  has  read  the  institutions  and  history  of 
the  Eoman  Church  herself  into  the  darker  imagery  of  this 
mysterious  book.  The  fact  is  that  Scripture  says  nothing 
on  the  subject,  and  Antiquity,  properly  so  called,  is  no  less 
silent.  It  is  first  hinted  at  in  two  apocryphal  writings, 
attributed  to  St.  John  and  to  Melito  of  Sardis,2  but  belong- 
ing, it  would  seem,  to  the  beginning  of  the  fifth  century  :  it 
is  a  pious  supposition  of  a  later  age,  without  any  proof  of 
a  real  historic  basis.  And  when  well-informed  divines  are 
pressed  they  admit,  that  though  it  is  treated  in  the  public 
Service  as  if  it  were  as  certain  as  the  Eesurrection  of 
Christ,  it  is  not  a  matter  of  faith  at  all ;  that  the  Church 
of  Borne  has  never  said  authoritatively  that  the  body  of 
Mary  left  its  grave,  whatever  may  have  been  taught  by 
poets  and  painters  and  preachers;  and  that  what  we 
have  witnessed  and  listened  to  on  this  great  festival  is 

1  Rev.  xii.  1-6.  In  Adv.  Hcer.  lxxviii.  c.  u,  St.  Epiphanius  only  says 
that  this  passage  may  perchance  have  been  fulfilled  in  Mary  :  he  adds,  ov 
rrdvTws  5£  opifd/iat  tovto.  He  hesitates  to  say  whether  Mary  did  or  did 
not  die.  Holy  Scripture  is  intentionally  silent  on  the  subject  of  her 
leath :  iv  /uerewpy  etaae,  Sta  to  (tkcvos  to  tl/jllov  icai  H-oxutcltov.  In 
Origen's  day  it  was  sometimes  inferred  from  St.  Luke  ii.  35  that  the 
Blessed  Virgin  had  died  a  martyr's  death.    Cf.  Horn,  in  Luc.  xvii. 

2  That  attributed  to  St.  John  is  styled  ets  ttjv  KolfxyvLv  tt}s  {rrrepayias 
5e<T7r6tv7?j ;  that  to  St.  Melito,  "  De  transitu  Mariae."  Cf.  Herzog,  Encyc. 
vol.  ix.  p.  92. 

H 


1 14   Growth  in  the  Apprehension  of  Truth.  [Serm. 


merely  the  expression  of  a  pious  opinion.  And  since, 
moreover,  no  intrinsic  necessity  can  be  shown  for  sup- 
plementing the  confessed  and  altogether  unique  glory  of 
the  Mother  of  the  Incarnate  Son  by  the  hypothesis  of 
her  bodily  reception  into  heaven,  it  follows  that  when 
instructed  faith,  accustomed  to  the  aspects  and  to  the 
frontiers  of  Apostolic  teaching,  encounters  this  hypothesis, 
it  recoils  as  from  a  block  of  foreign  and  intrusive  matter; 
it  whispers  to  itself,  "  By  God's  help  I  will  live  and  die  in 
the  complete  circle  of  truths  unveiled  by  the  Apostles,  but 
I  cannot  be  wiser  than  they." 

To  many  minds  the  question  now  presents  itself,  whether 
acceptance  of  such  materials  of  religious  thought  and 
life  as  we  have  been  considering  can  properly  be  de- 
scribed as  being  borne  forward  to  perfection.  Certainly 
the  process  by  which  we  accept  them  is  fundamentally 
different  from  that  by  which  we  accept  the  true  Divinity 
of  our  Lord,  or  the  efficacy  of  His  atoning  Sacrifice,  or  the 
grace  of  the  Sacraments,  or  the  Apostolic  structure  of  the 
Church.  For  these  truths  have,  each  and  all  of  them,  their 
place  in  the  Apostolic  mind  and  writings :  and  later  defini- 
tions, such,  for  example,  as  are  those  contained  in  the 
Creeds,  do  not  really  add  to  the  sum  or  extent  of  things  to 
be  believed;  they  only  re-state  in  language  which  new 
intellectual  circumstances  have  rendered  necessary  what 
was  believed  by  the  first  Christian  teachers.  Yet  how  can 
this  be  said  of  pious  but  unattested  conjectures  which 
have  gradually  come  to  be  treated  as  if  they  were  estab- 
lished facts  ?  In  such  a  subject-matter  as  that  of  faith,  so 
altogether  transcending  the  limits  of  human  thought,  you 
cannot  infer  the  truth  of  the  unrevealed,  though  you  may 
discern  the  necessary  connection  between  one  revealed 
truth  and  another.  A  very  serious  line  of  demarcation  is 
passed  when,  from  considering  religious  truths  resting  on 
Apostolic  or  Divine  authority,  we  pass  to  the  contemplation 


VI. 


Growth  in  the  Apprehension  of  Truth,    1 1 5 


of  pious  surmises,  or,  as  is  not  impossible,  of  unsubstantial 
legends.  Must  not  the  crisp  and  jealous  sense  of  truth  be 
impaired  when  the  soul  accepts  with  equal  facility  that 
which  is  certain  and  such  portions  of  the  imaginary  as  it 
may  conceive  to  be  probable ;  and  when  the  truths  for 
which  Apostles  gave  their  lives  are  practically  correlated 
with  stories  which,  in  an  age  like  ours,  bring  the  whole 
faith  into  discredit  and,  for  too  many  souls,  into  danger  ? 

The  Eeformation  cost  much.    It  broke  up,  at  least  in 
the  Western  Church,  visible  unity,  so  dear  to  all  Chris- 
tians who  believe  that  our  Lord  uttered  the  intercessory 
prayer  in  St.  John,  and  that  the  Epistle  to  the  Ephesians 
is  the  Word  of  God.1    Whatever  may  have  been  the  case 
in  England,  it  became  elsewhere  religious  revolution ;  and 
it  produced  not  a  few  reckless  experimentalists,  who  were 
the  enemies  of  faith  and  charity  and  order.    But,  notwith- 
standing, it  saved  the  cause  of  religion  in  Western  Europe, 
by  dissociating  Christianity  from  the  entail  of  legend  which 
had  gathered  around  it.   The  Roman  Church  herself,  as  any 
student  of  the  earlier  sessions  of  the  Council  of  Trent  may 
discover,  has  profited  by  the  Eeformation  within  such  limits 
is  were  possible ;  and  no  believer  in  Christ  can  cease  to 
lope,  though  it  be  against  appearances,  that  a  day  may 
:ome  when  she,  the  largest  division  of  the  Christian  Church, 
nay  yet  more  widely  profit  by  it ;  that  she  may  virtually 
ibandon  untenable  positions,  without  forfeiture  of  her 
listoric  continuity,  and  that  she  may  thus  undertake  to 
•eunite  the  scattered  worshippers  of  the  Redeemer  in  one 
isible  fold. 

IV. 

But  meanwhile  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  dread  of 
toman  exaggeration  prevents  many  Christians  in  our  day 
nd  country  from  embracing  the  unmutilated  faith  of  the 

1  St.  John  xvii.  21.    Eph.  iv.  3-6. 


ix6  Growth  in  the  Apprehension  of  Truth.  [Serm. 

Apostles.  And  there  are  two  other  causes  at  work  which 
lead  to  the  same  result.  Of  these  the  first  is  the  spirit  of 
negative  criticism.  Criticism  has  its  great  duties  and  its 
ascertained  rights.  It  is  not  necessarily  the  foe  of  religion : 
it  may  brace  the  air  which  religion  breathes ;  it  may  sweep 
the  home  which  she  tenants.  But  criticism  is  not  religion, 
nor  is  she  always  the  servant  of  religion ;  and  when,  as  is 
sometimes  the  case,  criticism  virtually  usurps  the  place 
of  faith,  the  soul  is  starved  even  to  death  upon  the  dry 
husks  which  are  all  that  are  offered  for  spiritual  nutriment. 
Who  of  us  living  here  in  Oxford  does  not  know  the 
truth  of  this  ?  It  is  not  what  has  been  said  against  the 
truths  of  faith;  it  is  the  haunting  suspicion  that  some- 
thing may  be  said  which  has  not  been  said  yet  that  is 
so  fatal  to  any  robust  conviction,  and  as  a  consequence  to 
all  generous  effort  or  self-sacrifice.  Every  truth  in  turn 
seems  to  be  permitted  to  enjoy  at  the  best  an  hypothetical 
existence;  and  souls  are  bidden  rise  to  God  out  of  an 
atmosphere  of  universal  suspicion.  What  wonder  if  they 
sink  down  to  earth  and  if  heaven  disappears  from  their 
sight  ? 

The  other  cause  to  which  I  am  referring  is  the  vague 
but  creditable  desire  for  fellowship  in  religious  sentiment 
which  belongs  to  our  time.  Eemark  that  it  is  religious 
sentiment,  rather  than  religious  truth,  which  is  to  be  the 
bond  of  peace  in  most  of  the  religious  alliances  of  this  age. 
The  desire  for  spiritual  fellowship  is  undoubtedly  Christian 
in  its  origin  and  spirit;  and  it  is  aided  by  the  great 
facilities  for  intercommunication  which  characterize  our 
modern  life.  But  when  this  desire  becomes  practical  what 
is  it  that  too  frequently  happens  ?  The  smallest  of  several 
co-operating  creeds  becomes  of  necessity  the  basis  of  theii 
co-operation  ;  its  mutilated  and  impoverished  contents  arc 
assumed,  with  whatever  amount  of  hardihood,  to  contair 
the  whole  essential  substance  of  Revelation ;  and  men  tall 


VI. 


Growth  in  the  A pprehension  of  Truth.    1 1 7 


of  "  our  common  Christianity,"  when  they  mean  only  a 
fragment  of  the  Christian  Faith;  a  fragment,  the  varia- 
tions of  which  are  determined  from  time  to  time  by  petty 
local  controversies.  As  each  applicant  for  admission  to 
the  alliance  comes  bringing  with  him  a  smaller  and  yet 
smaller  creed,  the  process  of  minimizing  necessarily  goes 
forward,  and  in  the  end  it  seems  to  be  supposed  that  a 
service  is  somehow  done  at  once  to  Christ  and  to  Christians 
if  the  Christian  religion  can  be  shown  to  cover  very  little 
ground  indeed. 

It  would  seem  that  some  among  us  have  practically  sub- 
stituted for  the  Apostolic  injunction,  "  Therefore  leaving  the 
first  principles  of  the  doctrine  of  Christ,  let  us  go  on  unto 
perfection,"  the  exhortation,  "  Therefore  leaving  the  creeds 
of  the  Apostolic  Church,  let  us  do  what  we  may  to  reduce 
the  Christian  faith  to  a  working  minimum."  One  after 
another  the  truths  of  Eevelation  are  discarded,  on  the 
ground  that  they  occasion  differences ;  men  retain  that 
only  in  which  for  the  moment  they  agree.  And  so  it  is 
that  we  are  sometimes  told  that  the  Fatherhood  of  God  and 
the  character  of  Christ  are  the  only  permanent  elements  in 
Christianity  ;  and  we  find  ourselves  exactly  where  we  were 
when  we  started,  in  the  company  of  the  modern  cate- 
chumen,— the  first  step  in  synthesis  being  in  analysis  the 
last. 

But  surely  such  a  Christianity  as  this,  if  it  could  be 
allowed  to  deserve  the  name,  is  in  reality  open  to  at  least 
as  many  critical  objections  as  are  the  larger  creeds  which 
it  is  meant  to  supersede.  Who  does  not  see  that  our  Lord's 
human  character  can  only  be  described  as  perfect  if  His 
right  to  draw  attention  to  Himself,  in  terms  which  befit 
only  a  superhuman  person,  be  frankly  conceded  ?  Who 
does  not  know  that  the  existence  of  a  moral  God,  the 
Maker  and  Poller  of  this  universe,  is  at  this  moment  more 
fiercely  contested  by  a  large  class  of  materialist  writers  than 


1 1 8    Growth  in  the  Apprehension  of  Truth. 


any  subordinate  or  derived  truths  whatever,  and  that,  what- 
ever may  have  been  the  case  in  the  last  century,  a  naked  and 
shadowy  Theism  is  in  our  own  day  even  more  earnestly 
rejected  than  are  the  specific  doctrines  of  Apostolic  Chris- 
tianity ? 

Surely,  then,  it  is  our  wisdom,  as  Christian  believers, 
while  life  lasts,  to  make  the  most,  and  not  the  least,  of 
the  truth  we  hold.  What  must  not  He  to  Whom  it  refers 
think — and  surely  He  is  thinking  on  the  subject  now — of 
those  many  magnificent  intellects  which  He  has  endowed 
so  richly,  and  to  which  He  has-  granted  such  opportunities 
of  exercise  and  development,  and  who  yet,  living  here  in 
Oxford,  know  scarcely  more  about  Him  than  do  the  children 
in  our  national  schools,  and  make  no  effort  to  know  more  ? 
All  else  is  studied  with  eager  enthusiasm,  all  forms  of 
created  life,  all  the  resources  of  nature,  all  the  intricacies 
and  laws  of  human  thought ;  but  He,  the  Author  of  all, — 
He,  the  Infinite  and  the  Everlasting, — is,  it  seems,  forgotten. 
It  was  not  always  so  in  Oxford ;  it  will  not,  it  cannot, 
always  be  so. 

"  Dies  venit,  dies  Tua, 
In  qua  reflorent  omnia, 
Lsetemur  et  nos  in  viam 
Tua  reducti  dextera. " 

And  meanwhile,  those  who  have  this  hope  in  them  will 
do  what  they  may  to  forward  it.  It  is  not  much  to  ask 
of  any  serious  Christian  that  he  should  endeavour  each  day 
to  take  possession  of  some  little  portion  of  that  highest 
knowledge,  which,  in  the  light  of  the  eternal  world,  will 
assuredly  seem  incomparably  more  precious  than  any  other. 
Half  an  hour  a  day  costs  something  in  the  life  of  a  hard- 
worked  man ;  but  it  will  not  be  held  to  have  involved  a 
very  great  sacrifice,  when  we  are  at  length  face  to  face  with 
the  unchanging  realities,  and  know  in  very  deed  what  is 
meant  by  Perfection. 


SERMON  VII. 


THE  LIFE  OE  EAITH  AXD  THE  ATH  AN  ASIAN 
CEEED. 

St.  John  iii.  36. 

He  that  belicveth  on  the  Son  hath  everlasting  life  ;  and  he  that  believeth  not 
the  Son  shall  not  see  life;  but  the  wrath  of  God  abideth  on  him. 

A EE  we  listening  to  St.  John  the  Baptist,  or  to  St.  John 
the  Evangelist  ?  To  answer  with  positiveness  is,  to 
say  the  least,  difficult ;  but  probabilities  are  in  favour  of 
the  opinion  that  the  Evangelist  is  here  following  out,  in 
the  full  light  of  the  Apostolic  age  and  inspiration,  the 
train  of  thought  to  which  the  Baptist's  earlier  proclama- 
tion of  the  greatness  of  Jesus  Christ  naturally  led  him. 1 
Where,  then,  does  the  report  of  the  Baptist's  words  end, 
and  where  does  the  inspired  commentary  on  them  begin  ? 2 
Here,  again,  we  must  confess  to  the  presence  of  difficulty. 
For  there  is  no  abrupt  break  in  the  order  of  thought ;  there 
are  no  marks  of  quotation  which  distinctly  transfer  the 
attention  from  the  last  w^ords  of  the  text  to  the  first  words 
of  the  commentary.  We  pass  almost  insensibly  from  what 
is  plainly  the  Baptist's  rebuke  of  a  querulous  jealousy 
.  excited  in  his  disciples  by  the  increasing  popularity  of  the 
new  Teacher,  to  words  which  sound  like  an  Apostolic 

1  So  Olshausen,  Tholuck,  Klee,  Kuinoel.  On  the  other  side,  cf.  Meyer, 
'  Evangclium  des  Johannes,  p.  140. 

2  Cf.  Liicke,  Ev.  Johannes,  i.  p.  566. 


120 


The  Life  of  Faith  and 


[Serm. 


warning  respecting  the  privilege  of  possessing  by  faith 
the  life-giving  and  manifested  Son,  and  the  danger  of 
rejecting  Him  by  unbelief.  There  is  a  somewhat  similar 
difficulty  about  determining  to  whom  the  verses  are  ad- 
dressed which  immediately  follow  St.  Paul's  account  of  the 
dispute  at  Antioch  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Galatians.  Is 
St.  Paul  still  remonstrating  with  St.  Peter  in  the  whole 
paragraph  which  extends  from  the  narrative  itself  to  the 
end  of  the  second  chapter  ? 1  Or  is  he  now  reasoning  with 
the  Galatian  J udaizers,  and  only  taking  his  brief  reply  to 
Peter  as  the  text  of  his  remonstrance  ?  Certainly  the 
latter  would  appear  for  various  reasons  to  be,  on  the  whole, 
the  truer  answer ;  and  yet,  if  it  be  accepted,  where  does 
the  reply  really  end,  and  the  inferential  commentary  upon 
it  begin  ?  The  difficulty  of  answering  this  question  is  not 
inconsiderable.  It  might  seem  as  if,  in  some  passages, 
Holy  Scripture,  or  rather  its  Divine  Author,  purposely 
disappointed  our  attempts  to  apply  our  wonted  critical  pro- 
cedures of  method  and  analysis.  Perhaps  He  would  teach 
us  that  where  all  is  of  enduring  and  Divine  authority,  the 
question  of  human  authorship  or  immediate  purpose  is 
relatively  unimportant:  that  we  are  to  believe  St.  Paul, 
whether  he  is  addressing  himself  to  a  Church  of  disciples 
or  to  a  brother-apostle ;  that  we  are  to  believe  the  Holy 
Ghost,  whether  He  speaks  through  St.  John  the  Baptist 
or  through  St.  John  the  Evangelist. 

I 

"  He  that  believeth  on  the  Son  hath  everlasting  life." 
It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  the  purpose  of  St.  John's 
Gospel  is  condensed  into  this  sentence.  The  Evangelist 
tells  his  readers  that  his  book  was  written  "that  they  might 
believe  that  Jesus  is  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  God,  and  that 
1  Gal.  ii.  15-21. 


VII.]  the  At hanasian  Creed.  121 

believing  they  might  have  life  through  His  Name."1  And 
St.  John  does  but  echo  the  fuller  declarations  of  his  Lord ; 
"  God  so  loved  the  world,  that  He  gave  His  only-begotten 
Son,  that  whosoever  believeth  on  Him  should  not  perish, 
but  have  everlasting  life."  2  So  our  Lord  warns  the  Jews : 
"  Ye  will  not  come  unto  Me  that  ye  might  have  life."3  He 
assures  the  disciples  that  "  this  is  the  will  of  Him  that 
sent  Me,  that  whosoever  seeth  the  Son,  and  believeth  on 
Him,  hath  everlasting  life ;  and  I  will  raise  him  up  at  the 
last  day." 4  And  He  promises  that  "  he  that  eateth  My 
Flesh,  and  drinketh  My  Blood,  hath  eternal  life,  and  I  will 
raise  him  up  at  the  last  day."5  Of  Himself  He  says, 
"I  am  the  Bread  of  life."6 

What  is  life  ?  Who,  indeed,  shall  attempt  to  answer  ? 
We  recognise  it  by  its  symptoms  :  what  it  is  in  itself  we 
know  not.  We  can  only  apprehend  its  presence,  as  we 
apprehend  simple  ideas;  as  we  apprehend  facts  which 
we  cannot  take  to  pieces  and  explain;  there  it  is; — a 
matter  of  experience.  Its  inner  nature  we  cannot  analyze ; 
its  existence  we  cannot  dispute. 

What  is  life  ?  Looking  at  it,  as  we  must  look  at  it  in 
other  beings,  from  without,  and  speaking  roughly  and 
popularly,  we  may  say  that  its  presence  is  intimated  by 
two  symptoms,  by  movement  and  by  growth.  Whether 
life  be  vegetable  or  animal,  whether  intelligence  or  spirit, 
it  exhibits  in  varying  degrees  one  or  both  of  these  charac- 
teristics— growth  and  movement.  The  mineral  does  not 
live;  it  exists.  It  only  exists  because  it  neither  grows 
nor  moves.  The  tree  grows  ;  its  growth  is  its  movement ; 
it  grows  until  it  dies ;  growth  is  a  condition  of  its  existence  ; 

I  1  St.  John  xx.  31.  The  immediate  reference  is  to  the  selection  of  miracles 
(<T7]fj.eia,  verse  30)  made  by  the  Evangelist,  but  in  effect  the  words  refer  to 
the  drift  of  his  whole  Gospel. 

2  St.  John  iii.  16.  3  St.  John  v.  40.  4  St.  John  vi.  40. 

6  St.  John  vi.  54.  •  St.  John  vi.  35,  48. 


122 


The  Life  of  Faith  and 


[Seem. 


it  ceases  to  live  when  it  no  longer  grows.  We  speak  of  a 
vital  fluid  which  circulates  through  the  plant ;  but  what 
do  we  mean  by  calling  a  fluid  vital  ?  Within  each  plant 
there  is  some  mysterious  property  or  power,  the  nature  of 
which  is  as  entirely  beyond  our  capacities  for  investigation 
as  is  the  life  of  an  archangel,  but  the  reality  of  which  is  at 
the  same  time  strictly  a  matter  of  observation. 

In  the  animal  the  presence  of  life  is  more  manifest. 
The  animal  also  grows ;  it  grows  until  it  has  attained  the 
normal  proportions  of  its  kind;  it  grows  to  repair  the 
waste  of  nature.  But  in  the  animal  movement  is  not 
generally  identified  with  growth ;  if  we  except  zoophytes 
on  the  very  confines  of  the  vegetable  world,  the  animal 
moves  with  unchecked  freedom  from  place  to  place.  The 
animal  has,  moreover,  an  immaterial  sphere  of  its  life ;  its 
senses,  instincts,  feelings,  are  constantly  developing,  con- 
stantly playing  upon  external  nature  with  free,  varied, 
subtle,  unceasing  movement ;  and  thus,  in  a  far  higher  sense 
of  the  word  than  can  be  said  of  the  tree,  it  lives. 

Nor  is  it  otherwise  with  the  natural  intellect  of  man. 
It,  too,  grows,  even  in  the.  most  uneducated ;  it  grows  as  a 
condition  of  its  existence.  If  it  be  not  growing,  it  will  be 
shrivelling  and  withering  away ;  with  it,  too,  not  to  make 
progress  is  to  fall  back.  And  it  grows  by  movement ;  by 
reiterated  exercise ;  by  examining  again  and  again  the 
sources  of  its  knowledge ;  by  testing  the  processes  whereby 
it  reaches  its  conclusions ;  by  cross-questioning  the  teachers 
who  have  led  it  on  to  its  existing  attainments  ;  by  analyzing 
the  ideas  which  illuminate  or  control  its  efforts ;  by  actively 
welcoming  all  real  additions  to  its  existing  possessions.  In 
a  word,  its  movement  is  its  life ;  the  mind  which  stagnates 
is  on  the  wxay  to  ruin.  In  order  to  hold  its  own  against 
the  numbing  influences  of  animal  habit,  of  social  routine, 
of  material  pressure  from  without,  of  softness  and  indolence 
from  within,  the  mind  must  be  constantly  rousing  itself  tc 


VII.]  the  Athanasian  Creed.  123 

exertion,  like  a  traveller  who  is  overtaken  by  night  upon 
the  ice,  and  who  knows  that  although  the  temptation  to 
sleep  is  almost  overpowering,  his  safety  altogether  depends 
upon  his  being  able  to  resist  it.  And  this  is  intellectual 
life.  It  is  at  once  growth  and  movement,  whatever  be  the 
level  of  its  attainment,  whatever  the  subject-matter  upon 
which  it  is  exercised.  Such  a  life  it  is  ever  a  main 
business  of  an  University — with  all  its  apparatus  of 
libraries  and  teachers,  with  all  its  inspiring  traditions  and 
associations,  with  its  many  separate  departments  of  earnest 
study,  with  its  many  broad  and  deep  currents  of  conflicting 
speculation  and  opinion — to  excite  and  to  sustain,  if  it  may 
be,  in  every  single  student  who  finds  a  home  within  its  walls. 

But  beyond  the  life  of  the  understanding  there  is  a  still 
higher  kind  of  life.  It  is  that  through  which  man  enters 
into  communion  with  a  spiritual  world  ;  it  is  the  life  which 
belongs  to  man  as  a  personal  spirit,  recognising  his  own  awful 
immortality,  and  recognising  the  existence  of  his  God.  It 
is  true  that  natural  thought  and  feeling  may  and  must  be 
exercised  upon  these  tremendous  subjects.  But  spiritual 
life  is  a  distinct  thing  from  active  intelligence.  And  it  is 
a  higher  thing.  Spiritual  thought  can  see  farther  and  more 
clearly  than  can  natural  thought:  spiritual  feeling  is 
purified  from  the  selfish  alloy  which  mingles  with  natural 
feeling.1  And  the  fruits  of  the  Spirit  are  such  as  do  not 
come  to  us  as  natural  men,  they  are  "  love,  joy,  peace, 
long-suffering,  gentleness,  goodness,  faith,  meekness,  temper- 
ance." 2 

In  this,  the  highest  sphere  of  life,  it  is  not  less  true  than 
elsewhere  that  life  is  known  to  exist  by  growth  and  by 
movement  .    What  in  itself  it  is  we  know  not.    "  The  wind 

I  bloweth  where  it  listeth,  and  thou  nearest  the  sound  thereof, 
but  canst  not  tell  whence  it  cometh  or  whither  it  goeth:  so 

1  is  every  one  that  is  born  of  the  Spirit."3     Most  assuredly 

1  1  Cor.  ii.  14,  15.  2  Gal.  v.  22.  8  St.  John  iii.  8. 


The  Life  of  Faith  and 


[Serm. 


"  the  peace  of  God  which  passeth  all  understanding,"  and 
which  is  its  choicest  gift,  is  not  spiritual  stagnation.  It  is 
indeed  a  repose  of  conscience  which  ensues,  when  all  the 
faculties  of  the  soul  are  felt  to  centre  upon  their  true  and 
legitimate  Object ;  but  this  repose  is  like  that  of  the  awful 
beings  around  the  Throne  who  "  rest  not  day  and  night, 
saying,  Holy,  Holy,  Holy." 1  Created  life  at  its  highest 
summits  does  not  really  issue  in  what  would  be  practically 
death.  And  the  true  life  of  souls  here  below  consists  in 
a  continuous  growth  in  the  mastery  of  moral  and  spiritual 
truth ;  it  is  perpetual  movement  onwards  and  upwards 
towards  the  Perfect  Being  Who  is  so  altogether  beyond 
us.  We  are  to  "  grow  up  into  Him  in  all  things,  Who 
is  the  Head,  even  Christ," 2  and  "  when  Christ,  Who  is  our 
life,  shall  appear,  then  shall  we  also  appear  with  Him  in 
glory." 3 

Certainly  this  life  is  ever  moving  and  growing  in  those 
who  possess  it ;  but  when,  it  may  be  asked,  does  a  man 
who  lives  it  feel  that  he  lives  it  ?  In  a  certain  sense,  it 
must  be  answered,  always.  At  the  bottom  of  his  thought 
and  feeling  about  himself,  there  is  the  habitual,  unsuspended 
consciousness  that  he  is  a  personal  spirit,  whose  real  home 
is  not  within  this  world  of  sense,  since  he  lives  face  to  face 
with  the  Eternal  God.  Every  good  action,  undertaken  for 
the  sake  of  God  and  without  any  lower  selfish  aim,  is 
immediately  rewarded  by  a  new  pulse  of  spiritual  vigour ;  and 
it  is  felt  in  the  quickened  consciousness  of  spiritual  immor- 
tality. But  it  is  in  prayer  that  this  consciousness  is  roused 
into  its  greatest  activity.  Prayer  is  the  act  by  which  man, 
detaching  himself  from  the  embarrassments  of  sense  and 
nature,  ascends  to  the  true  level  of  his  destiny.  In  prayer 
man  puts  aside  the  lower  forms  of  life  which  belong  to  his 
complex  existence,  his  vegetative,  his  animal,  even  his 
intellectual  life ;  as  a  spirit,  he  seeks  the  Father  of  Spirits ; 

1  Rev.  iv.  8.  2  Epb.  iv.  15.  3  Col.  iiL  4. 


VI I.J  the  Athanasian  Creed.  125 

and  he  reflects  back  upon  his  bodily  form,  upon  his  social 
relations,  upon  his  place  and  work  in  the  world  of  sense, 
something  of  the  lustre  of  a  purely  supersensuous  being 
who  already  knows  by  insight  that  the  "  things  which  are 
seen  are  temporal,  but  the  things  which  are  not  seen  are 
eternal."  1 

How  is  this  life  secured  ?  Xot,  it  must  be  answered, 
by  any  force  latent  in  human  nature.  There  is  enough  in 
us  to  show  that  we  were  destined  for  such  a  life ;  enough 
to  prompt  the  aspirations  which,  in  the  noblest  members 
of  our  race,  have  struggled  again  and  again  to  compass  it. 
It  has  been  sought, — it  has  not  been  reached, — by  the 
quick  intelligence  of  Greece,  which  failed  to  understand 
its  moral  and  purifying  power,  and  by  the  seductive  mys- 
ticisms of  India,  too  dreamy  to  seize  its  practical  force. 
If  we  seek  for  it,  where  it  is  really  to  be  found,  in  the 
Sacred  Books  and  history  of  Christendom ;  if  we  study  its 
code  of  action  in  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  or  its  deepest 
'  and  highest  consciousness,  as  in  our  Lord's  Last  Discourse  ; 
or  its  practical  results  upon  vigorous  natural  characters,  in 
such  a  career  as  was  St.  Paul's ;  or  its  many-sided  relations 
to  thought  and  to  society  in  the  Apostolic  Epistles ;  we 
must  admit  that  it  is  in  itself  something  beyond  nature — 
beyond  the  scope  of  natural  genius  to  have  sketched  in 
outline,  or  of  natural  effort  to  attain  in  practice. 

And  there  is  a  reason  for  this.  If  man  looks  within 
himself  he  must  perceive  two  things ;  a  law  of  right,  and 
that  which  it  condemns.  The  law  of  natural  conscience, 
illuminated,  it  may  be,  in  a  greater  or  less  degree  by  Divine 
Revelation,  and  constantly  confronted  by  moral  evil,  whether 
coarse  and  revolting,  or  subtle,  refined,  spiritual: — this 
inward  anomaly  explains  to  us  why,  of  ourselves,  we  cannot, 
in  the  highest  sense  of  the  word,  live.  We  read  within 
ourselves  a  sentence  of  death;  we  have  light  enough  to 

1  2  Cor.  iv.  18. 


The  Life  of  Faith  and 


[Serm. 


know,  if  we  will,  what  manner  of  beings  we  are ; — that  is 
all.  For  moral  evil  is  weakness,  numbness,  death :  it  is 
in  varying  degrees,  darkness  in  the  understanding ;  it  is 
coldness  in  the  affections ;  above  all,  it  is  enfeeblement 
and  warping  of  the  will;  it  paralyzes  the  faculty  upon 
which  the  destiny  of  the  soul  mainly  depends.  If  man  is 
to  be  helped  out  of  such  evil ;  cleansed  from  its  traces  in 
the  past,  invigorated  so  as  to  resist  it  for  the  future ;  if  he 
is  to  rise  to  a  life  which  cannot  but  be  its  antagonist  and 
its  cure ;  he  must  seek  the  feet  of  One  Who,  of  His 1  free 
love  and  bounty,  is  ever  willing  to  "  take  up  the  simple 
out  of  the  dust,  and  lift  the  poor  out  of  the  mire,  that  He 
may  set  him  with  the  princes,  even  with  the  princes  of 
His  people."  1 

Yes, — "he  that  believeth  on  the  Son  hath  everlasting 
life."  One  has  in  very  deed  appeared  in  human  history, 
Who  could  promise  and  bestow  this  life  of  eternity  which 
begins  in  time,  this  highest  life  of  which  man  is  capable.  A 
Galilean  peasant,  as  He  seemed,  He  left  an  impression, 
He  gave  an  impulse,  from  which — it  is  a  simple  matter  of 
historical  fact — the  human  soul  dates  a  new  era  in  its 
history.  From  the  first,  He  was  felt  to  be  a  new  and 
unique  force  in  humanity ;  to  say  this  is  to  say  the  least 
that  a  bystander  could  say  about  His  work.  But  when 
He  died  in  pain  and  shame,  His  death  wTas  declared  and 
known  to  have  a  purifying  and  sacrificial  power,  and  to  re- 
establish a  lost  relationship  between  earth  and  heaven. 
The  days  have  passed  when  a  sterile  criticism  could  attempt 
to  represent  St.  Paul  as  the  real  author  of  Christianity;  the 
Apostle's  indignant  question  to  the  Corinthian  sectarians, 
"  Was  Paul  crucified  for  you  ? "  was  a  sufficient  answer. 2  St. 
Paul  himself  knew,  as  each  who  shares  his  faith  knows, 
that  "  the  life  which  I  now  live  in  the  flesh  I  live  by  the 
faith  of  the  Son  of  Gocl,  Who  loved  me  and  gave  Himself 

1  Ps.  cxiii.  6,  7.  2  1  Cor.  i.  13. 


VII.]  the  Athanasian  Creed.  127 

for  me." 1  For  this  life,  this  truly  soul-transforming  impulse, 
this  immense  moral  encouragement  and  relief,  this  sense  of 
reanimated  freedom,  and  hope,  and  power,  did  not  die  away 
with  a  single  generation.  It  lived  on  still  when  Apostles 
had  left  the  earth.  It  lived  on  in  its  first  freshness,  because 
it  was  in  reality  the  widening  personal  influence  of  an 
ever-present  Master ;  because  He  Who  was  its  Source  and 
Author  had  not  really  gone.  It  lived  to  attract  and  enlist 
in  His  service  minds  of  great  originality  and  power;  it 
lived  to  robe  the  young,  the  weak,  the  timid,  the  very  poor, 
with  the  high  moral  dignity  of  confessorship  and  martyrdom; 
it  breathed  a  new  spirit  into  art  and  literature,  and  social 
intercourse,  and,  though  after  long  delay,  into  the  very 
structure  of  society ;  it  changed  the  character  and  habits 
of  entire  classes,  populations,  races ;  and  finally,  if  it  did 
not  destroy  the  great  pagan  empire,  which  would  fain 
have  strangled  it  in  its  birth,  it  at  least  followed  hard  on 
the  steps  of  the  real  destroyers,  to  create  a  new  and  healthier 
civilization  which  mic;ht  fill  the  void. 

Nor  is  this  force  spent  in  our  own  day.  Whatever  may 
be  the  discouragements  of  the  modern  Church;  however 
Israel  may  seem  at  times  to  be  finally  falling  back  before 
the  hosts  of  Syria;  grievous  as  are  the  divisions,  the  cor- 
ruptions, the  many  inevitable  sorrows  of  a  perplexed  and 
enfeebled  Christendom;  still  "he  that  believeth  on  the 
Son  hath  everlasting  life."  It  is  a  matter  of  experience. 
Again  and  again,  thank  God,  we  see  men,  like  the  noble 
Prelate  who  has  recently  been  taken  from  us  in  South 
Africa,2  in  whom  everything  natural  is  sensibly  elevated 
by  some  unearthly  force  ;  men,  of  whom,  if  we  knew  nothing 
more,  we  should  know  that  they  had  felt  the  present 
power  of  something  higher  than  a  beautiful  literature,  or 
a  great  memory ;  that  some  invisible  Friend  must  have 

1  Gal.  ii.  20. 

2  The  Most  Rev.  "Robert  Gray,  Lord  Bishop  of  Cape  Town. 


128  The  Life  of  Faith  and  [Serm. 


looked  upon  them  with  favour,  and  changed  them  from 
their  old  selves  and  made  them  what  they  are. 

II. 

Some  may  ask,  if  not  in  words,  yet  in  their  secret 
hearts,  Why  cannot  the  text  stop  here  ?  Why  is  it  not 
enough  to  proclaim  the  blessedness  of  those  who  possess 
life  in  possessing  Christ  ?  Why  should  anything  be  added 
as  to  the  loss  of  those  who  do  not  possess  Him  ?  Why  is 
it  also  said,  "  He  that  hath  not  the  Son  shall  not  see  life," 
and  still  more,  that  "  the  wrath  of  God  abideth  on  him  "  ? 

This  question  would  be  more  difficult  to  answer,  if 
Christianity  were  only  a  philosophy,  and  of  human  growth. 
The  business  of  a  philosophy  is  to  say  what  it  can  in  order 
to  recommend  itself;  to  fight  its  way,  if  possible,  by 
reason  and  argument,  to  intellectual  empire ;  to  show  that 
the  systems  of  thought  which  oppose  it  are  without 
foundation,  or  at  least  that  they  rest  upon  considerations 
of  inferior  weight  to  those  which  it  can  produce  on  its 
own  behalf.  A  philosophy  is,  however,  always  more  or 
less  a  guess  at  truth ;  it'  is  a  happy  speculation,  on  great 
topics  if  you  will,  but  still  a  speculation ;  and  as  such  it 
is,  and  knows  itself  to  be,  in  some  degree  provisional  and 
tentative.  If  it  were  to  announce  that  serious  consequences 
would  follow  upon  its  being  rejected,  it  would  be  guilty  of 
an  immodesty,  which  the  reason  and  conscience  of  its 
most  attached  disciples  would  forthwith  condemn. 

Doubtless  Christianity  may  throw  itself  into  a  philo- 
sophical form  for  missionary  purposes  ;  it  may  descend  into 
the  lists,  and  borrow  the  language  of  its  adversaries,  as  it  did 
so  well  at  Alexandria  in  the  second  and  third  centuries ;  as 
it  has  done  since,  in  more  places  and  at  more  times  than 
one.  But  although  Christianity  may  be  presented  as  the 
highest  philosophy,  it  is  also  much  more :  it  is  nothing,  if 


VI L]  the  Athanasia7i  Creed. 


129 


it  is  not  much  more;  if  it  is  not  in  very  truth  a  Eevelation. 
In  the  last  resort  it  claims  to  have  come,  not  from  man, 
hut  from  God ;  and  when  addressing  itself  to  man  it  has  a 
corresponding  character  of  imperative  urgency.  Further, 
its  object  is  not  merely  or  chiefly  to  enlighten  man's 
understanding  by  the  offer  of  a  new  and  attractive  and 
well-attested  theory  of  destiny,  but  to  change,  purify, 
elevate,  his  entire  being  by  the  infusion  of  a  new  principle 
of  life.  And  if  man  rejects  it,  he  rejects  not  merely  so 
much  information  upon  the  highest  topics,  but  conditions 
of  moral  and  spiritual  renovation,  which  are  not,  as  it 
maintains,  to  be  found  elsewhere.  In  the  language  of  the 
first  Christians,  "  Xeither  is  there  salvation  in  any  other ; 
for  there  is  none  other  Xanie  under  heaven  given  among 
men  whereby  we  must  be  saved."1 

Indeed  all  knowledge  that  is  based  on  fact,  all  assertion 
of  truth  that  is  positive,  and  not  merely  hypothetical  or 
speculative,  must  insist  upon  the  mischief  of  neglecting 
or  rejecting  it  with  an  earnestness  corresponding  to  the 
dignity  of  its  subject-matter.  This  law  does  not  merely 
hold  good  of  spiritual  truth.  Do  teachers  of  physics  admit 
that  the  ascertained  laws  of  nature — of  health  for  example 
— can  be  neglected  with  impunity  ?  Do  economists  allow 
that  the  ascertained  laws  of  production,  of  population,  of 
supply  and  demand,  can  be  ignored  without  social  and 
political  mischief  ?  Not  to  insist  upon  a  truism ;  is  it  not, 
I  ask,  of  the  very  nature  of  truth  that  its  acceptance  is 
compulsory  in  a  degree  proportioned  to  its  importance  ;  so 
that  acceptance  of  the  highest  truth  is  therefore  in  the 
highest  degree  compulsory  ?  There  may  be  truths  so 
insignificant  in  their  bearings  upon  thought  and  life,  that  it 
is  hard  to  say  what  does  depend  upon  our  accepting  them 
beyond  the  moral  strength  which  inevitably  accompanies 
all  recognition  of  fact  in  all  directions.    But  no  spiritual 

1  Acts  iv.  12. 
I 


130 


The  Life  of  Faith  and 


[Serm. 


truth,  if  it  be  truth,  is  of  this  order ;  even  although  we 
may  be  ourselves  unable  to  trace  the  importance  of  a 
particular  truth,  or  to  receive  it  for  the  time  being,  except 
upon  authority. 

Every  Theist  must  admit  this  respecting  the  first  and 
greatest  of  all  truths.  If,  of  course,  a  man  regards  God  as 
only  an  hypothesis  by  which  to  account  for  the  existence 
of  the  visible  universe,  no  harm  will,  in  his  opinion,  happen 
upon  denying  God's  existence,  beyond  the  intellectual 
embarrassment  of  suggesting  any  reasonable  counter- 
hypothesis  to  take  His  place.  But  if  it  be  known  to  be 
a  fact  that  there  does  exist  One  Being,  the  Parent  of  all 
besides,  the  Euler  of  all  besides,  before  Whom  all  besides 
are  as  less  than  nothing,  yet  to  Whom  all  and  each  are 
objects  of  the  deepest,  tenderest  love;  it  cannot  be  possible  to 
reject  this  fact  as  you  would  reject  an  hypothesis,  or  indeed, 
without  loss — certain,  awful,  immeasurable.  Loss  to  the 
intellect,  but  still  more  to  the  affections  and  the  will ;  loss 
here,  presaging  only  too  clearly,  in  the  case  of  an  immortal 
being,  loss  hereafter.  To  insist  upon  this  would  be  beside 
my  present  purpose,  anql  unnecessary,  it  might  be  hoped, 
under  any  circumstances,  within  these  walls ;  but  especially 
when  an  essay  of  great  power  and  beauty  on  "  the  Moral 
Significance  of  Atheism "  has  been  recently  in  the  hands 
of  many  of  us,  and  will  have  suggested  to  those  who  have 
read  it  all  that  a  preacher  could  wish  to  say.1 

And  as  with  Theistic,  so  with  Christian  truth.  If  Chrisl 
be  indeed  the  Son  of  God,  through  and  in  Whom  th( 
Perfect  Moral  Being  has  spoken  to  His  creatures — to  rejec 
Him  is  to  reject  God.  "  He  that  hateth  Me  hateth  M; 
Father  also."2  If  to  believe  Him  is  life,  to  have  know] 
and  yet  to  reject  Him  is  death.  There  is  no  middle  terr 
or  state  between  the  two.    And  this  rejection  of  the  So 


1  Cf.  Essays,  Theological  and  Literary,  by  R.  H.  Hutton,  M.A.,  vc 
i.,  essay  I.  2  St.  John  xv.  23. 


VII.] 


the  Athanasian  Creed. 


incurs  the  wrath  of  the  Father,  Whose  linage  and  Counter- 
part He  is ;  so  that  God's  righteous  displeasure  with  a 
rebel  against  His  authority  rests  upon  the  rejecter ;  "  the 
wrath  of  God  abideth  on  him."  The  man  enters  of  his 
free  will  into  a  state  of  moral  being  which  is  uncheered  by 
the  smile  of  God,  and  which,  after  death,  is  fixed  and 
irretrievable.  The  Absolute  Religion  can  claim  no  less 
than  this;  it  cannot  dare  to  represent  its  acceptance  as 
other  than  a  strict  moral  necessity  for  those  to  whom  it 
is  offered.  In  fact,  this  stern,  yet  truthful  and  merciful 
claim,  makes  all  the  difference  between  a  Faith  and  a 
theory. 

III. 

A  statement  of  this  truth  in  other  terms  is  at  pre- 
sent occasioning  a  painful  controversy,  which  it  would 
be  better  in  this  place  to  pass  over  in  silence,  if  too  much 
was  not  at  stake  to  warrant  a  course  from  which  I  shall 
only  depart  with  sincere  reluctance. 

Need  I  say  that  I  allude  to  the  vexed  question  of  the 
Athanasian  Creed  ?  Certain  clauses  of  that  document  are 
so  unwelcome  in  some  quarters,  and  all  of  it  in  others,  that 
men  have  gravely  proposed  either  to  omit  large  portions  of 
;  it,  or  to  banish  it  altogether  from  the  service  of  the  Church. 
The  good  taste  of  scholars,  and  a  fitting  sense  of  the 
immodesty  and  grotesqueness  of  any  pretension  on  the 
part  of  a  merely  National  Church  to  alter  the  terms  of  a 
document  of  world-wide  authority,  will  probably  save  the 
Athanasian  Creed  from  the  various  current  schemes  for 
mutilating  it.  But  the  proposal  to  expel  the  Creed  from 
its  place  in  our  public  worship  may  even  yet,  unhappily, 
receive  much  consideration  and  support ;  nay,  its  eventual 
success  is  far  too  possible  to  be  safely  disregarded.1 

1  Since  this  sermon  was  preached,  the  author's  fears  have  been,  alas  !  too 
accurately  justified  in  Ireland. 


132  .  The  Life  of  Faith  and  [Serm. 

Here  let  me  endeavour  to  anticipate  an  objection  which 
will  occur  to  many  who  may  have  accompanied  me  thus 
far  without  difficulty,  but  who  feel  that  at  this  point 
they  must  take  up  an  attitude  of  criticism,  if  not  of 
opposition. 

"  We  admit,"  you  say,  "  that  to  reject  Christ  wilfully 
is  to  forfeit  everlasting  life.  We  do  not  shrink  from 
the  awful  words  of  Apostles  and  Evangelists  about  the 
obligations  of  faith.  But  then  it  appears  to  us  that  the 
faith  which  is  required  in  Scripture  is  faith  in  a  Person, 
and  not  faith  in  a  series  of  dogmatic  assertions.  We  can 
understand  that  to  refuse  to  put  faith  in  our  Lord's  Person 
may  incur  even  eternal  loss ;  but  it  is  a  very  different 
matter  to  attribute  this  consequence  to  the  rejection  of 
certain  abstract  propositions  such  as  are  those  of  the  Athan- 
asian  Creed." 

Here,  then,  let  me  join  issue  by  asking,  What  is  meant 
by  faith  in  a  person  ?    You  reply  that  faith  in  a  person 
is  an  instinct  rather  than  a  judgment;  that  it  is  an  act 
of  the  heart  rather  than  of  the  intellect,  or  at  most  a 
combined  act  of  heart  and  understanding  moving  together. 
Very  well :  you  do  not  then  mean  to  say  that  faith  in  a 
person  is  altogether  irrational ;  you  mean  that  it  depends 
upon  reasons  which  can  be  produced,  if  need  be,  but  which 
the  heart  would  rather  keep  in  the  background,  if  only 
from  the  natural  disinclination  to  discuss  that  which  we  love. 
This,  indeed,  is  the  case  with  our  trust  in  the  relatives  and 
friends  of  early  life.    Few  men  have  drawn  out  into  i 
formal  theory  their  deepest  grounds  of  confidence  in  a  fathe1 
or  in  an  elder  brother,  or  in  a  very  wise  and  revered  adviser 
to  do  this  would  be  like  exposing  to  the  rays  of  the  sm 
the  roots  of  a  very  tender  plant.    Still  the  time  may  com 
when  you  will  have  to  do  this  at  all  costs.    If,  for  instance 
you  are  told  that  the  object  of  your  trust  is  not  what  h 
appears  to  be ;  that  he  is  insincere,  or  selfish,  or  other  wis 


VII.]  the  A  thanasian  Creed. 


133 


unworthy  of  the  confidence  which  you  place  in  him,  from 
that  moment  forth  you  are  obliged  to  consider  why  it  is 
that  you  trust  him,  and  whether  it  is  reasonable  to  con- 
tinue to  do  so.  You  have  no  choice  about  it.  From  that 
moment  forth,  if  your  trust  survives  the  early  shock  of 
hostile  controversy,  it  necessarily  assumes  the  form  of 
deliberate  assent  to  a  proposition  or  to  a  series  of 
propositions ;  it  becomes,  whether  you  will  or  not,  some- 
thing like  a  formal  creed.  It  takes  the  shape  of  assent 
to  the  propositions  that  your  friend  is  sincere  ;  that  he  is 
unselfish;  that  he  is  all  which  it  was  suggested  he  was 
not ;  that  he  is,  in  short,  worthy  of  the  confidence  you 
have  placed  in  him  ;  and  this  personal  or  domestic  creed 
of  your  heart  has  its  warning,  yes,  if  it  must  be  so,  its 
damnatory  clauses  behind;  it  affirms  that  to  deny  your 
friend's  sincerity  or  unselfishness  is  to  forfeit  all  the  hap- 
piness that  this  precious  trust  in  his  character  implies. 
Some  who  are  here  may  possibly  have  known  the  agony  of 
moments  when  faith  in  an  old  friend  has  been  assailed  by 
some  insinuation  or  controversy ;  and  when  the  instincts 
of  love  and  loyalty  have  had  to  throw  themselves  into  a 
harsh  logical  form,  if  the  heart  was  not  to  be  left  in  the 
outer  darkness  of  a  lifelong  disappointment. 

Thus,  if  we  may  compare  small  things  with  great,  it  has 
fared  with  the  faith  of  Christendom  in  Him  Who  is  the 
adored  Master  of  every  truly  Christian  soul.  At  first 
faith  in  Him  was  an  instinctive  trust ;  it  was  the  trust  of  the 
weak,  the  sickly,  the  poor,  the  wandering,  the  bewildered, 
in  One  towards  "Whom  they  were  drawn  as  if  fascinated  by 
some  power  which  they  did  not  analyze,  yet  could  not  but 
obey.  So  it  was  doubtless  with  the  men  and  women  who 
sought  His  blessed  feet  and  huns  upon  His  words  in  the 
villages  and  lanes  of  Galilee.  He  was  surrounded  from  the 
first  by  the  deep  fervid  homage  of  human  hearts.  But  even 
within  the  Apostolic  age  the  grounds  of  this  homage  were 


134  The  Life  of  Faith  and  [Serm. 

challenged.  Was  He  indeed  what  He  claimed  to  be;  was  He 
the  Teacher,  King,  and  Judge  of  men  ?  Was  He  what  His 
followers  said  of  Him  ?  Was  He  not  in  reality  much  less 
than  this,  if  not,  indeed,  as  the  Jews  alleged,  something 
utterly  different  ?  These  questions  could  not  be  declined; 
and  an  Apostle  insists  upon  the  necessity  of  "  giving  a 
reason "  for  the  hope  with  which  Christians  had  been 
endowed  by  Christ.1  The  Christian  heart  might  still 
pour  out  its  ceaseless  tide  of  adoration  and  trust;  but 
the  Christian  intellect  must  the  while  be  able  formally 
to  proclaim  why  the  Object  of  that  homage  was  rightfully 
entitled  to  it.  Faith  in  Jesus  Christ  had  already  passed  from 
the  region  of  pure  moral  instincts  into  the  atmosphere  of 
dialectics.  The  transition,  however  unwelcome,  was,  from 
the  nature  of  the  case,  inevitable ;  but  the  logical  form 
which  was  thus  given  to  the  tenderest  spiritual  judgments 
of  the  earliest  Christendom  did  not  really  forfeit  their  inner 
character. 

For  it  was  asked  whether  Jesus  Christ  was  really 
justified  in  using  the  language  which  He  did  use '  about 
Himself.  Was  He  really  able  to  fulfil  the  promises  which 
He  made  so  profusely,  and  which  His  Apostles  made  in 
His  Name  and  with  His  authority  ?  Who  was  He  then,  in 
His  deepest  personality,  that  He  should  speak  sometimes 
as  if  He  were  Monarch  of  two  worlds  :  sometimes  as  if  His 
aims  and  interests  were  strictly  identical  with  those  of 
God  ;  sometimes  as  if  His  human  countenance  and  form 
was  but  a  veil  of  a  Being  Who  did  not  really  belong  to 
the  sphere  of  sense  and  mortality  and  time  ?  If  men  were 
to  cling  to  His  pierced  hands,  protesting  that  they  could 
trust  Him  not  merely  in  life,  but  in  death — not  merely  for 
time,  but  in  eternity ;  what  was  the  justifiable  basis  and 
explanation  of  this  unique  and  altogether  extraordinary 
trust  ?    It  was  a  vital  question ;  which,  having  been  once 

1  I  St.  Pet.  iii.  15. 


VII. 


the  Atkanasian  Creed. 


135 


raised,  could  not  be  evaded,  at  least  if  Christianity  was  to 
live. 

Not  to  dwell  here  upon  the  answer  to  this  question 
which  we  find  in  the  Apostolic  writings,  let  us  observe 
that,  in  the  three  Creeds  which  the  Church  proposes  for 
our  acceptance,  we  see  three  sections  of  that  answer  thrown 
into  the  forms  which  it  has  assumed  for  all  time. 

The  "  Three  Creeds  "  1  are  not  a  fortuitous  collection  of 
dogmatic  formularies.  They  represent — not  indeed  the 
successive  inventions  or  speculations  of  an  accretive 
doctrinal  development,  but — three  answers  to  the  three 
stages  of  the  great  question  which  is  proposed  to  every 
'  Christian  thinker.  And  they  meet  this  question  which 
could  not  but  be  asked  with  replies  which  had  been  from 
the  first  included  in  the  teaching  of  the  Apostles. 

When  it  is  inquired,  "Why  Jesus  can  save  us  to  the 
uttermost  from  our  most  formidable  enemies,  in  life  and  in 
death  ;  why  He  can  give  us,  now  and  hereafter,  everlasting 
life  ? "  the  Apostles'  Creed  replies  that  He  is  the  "  Only 
Son "  of  "  God  the  Father  Almighty."  To  the  natural 
rejoinder,  "  What  do  you  exactly  mean  by  the  '  Only  Son 
of  God  the  Father  Almighty;'  is  He  some  unique  and 
extraordinary  man,  or  is  He  altogether  above  the  level  of 
humanity  ? " — the  Mcene  Creed  answers  that  He  is  "  God 
of  God,  Light  of  Light,  Very  God  of  Very  God,  of  one 
substance  with  the  Father,  Begotten  not  made."  To  the 
further  and  not  less  inevitable  question,  How  do  you 
propose  to  reconcile  this  very  serious  assertion  either 
with  the  truth  of  the  Divine  Unity  or  with  the  Gospel 
record  of  a  truly  Human  Life  ?  the  Athanasian  Creed, 

1  Art.  viii.  To  refer  to  the  ' '  Quicunque "  as  a  Psalm  may  be  only  a 
pedantic  crotchet.  But  if  it  is  intended  to  imply  that  as  a  Psalm 
the  Quicunque  is  not  properly  a  Creed,  this  is  to  contradict  the  formal 
language  of  the  Church  of  England  both  in  the  Articles  and  the  Prayer 
Book. 


136 


The  Life  of  Faith  and  [Serm. 


and  it  alone,  furnishes  a  full  and  elaborate  reply.  "  The 
Catholic  Faith  is  this:  that  we  worship  One  God  in 
Trinity,  and  the  Trinity  in  Unity."  Tor  associated  with 
the  Son  and  the  Father  in  the  unity  of  an  undivided 
substance,  is  that  Divine  and  Glorious  Person,  Who  in 
the  mystery  of  the  Divine  Existence  is  their  eternal 
bond, — the  Ever-Blessed  Spirit.  And  "  such  as  the  Father 
is,  such  is  the  Son ;  and  such  is  the  Holy  Ghost : "  Each 
uncreated,  Each  illimitable,  Each  eternal,  Each  almighty, 
Each  Lord  and  God :  while  the  Son  is  not  only  "  Perfect 
God,  but  also  and  as  truly  Perfect  Man,  of  a  reasonable 
soul  and  human  flesh  subsisting ;  equal  to  the  Father  as 
touching  His  Godhead  ;  but  inferior  to  the  Father  as  touch- 
ing His  Manhood ;  Who,  although  He  be  God  and  Man, 
yet  is  not  two,  but  one  Christ."  And,  we  may  not  shrink 
from  the  conclusion,  that  to  deny  the  doctrine  thus  stated,  is 
to  give  up  the  very  warrant  and  basis  of  our  trust  in  Him. 
The  several  propositions  of  the  Creed,  looked  at  separately, 
may  wear  the  appearance  of  "hard,  abstract,  unfruitful 
dogma ; "  in  combination  with  the  rest,  each  statement  is 
seen  to  be  an  indispensable  part  of  a  living  and  integral 
body  of  truth,  whereby  the  two  terms  of  our  faith,  the 
perfectness  of  our  Lord's  human  character,  regarded  in  the 
light  of  His  self-assertion,  and  the  Unity  of  the  Godhead,  are 
brought  into  fundamental  harmony.  It  is  the  trustworthi- 
ness of  Jesus  which  is  the  master-truth  asserted  by  the 
Athanasian  Creed.  In  the  last  analysis  it  will  be  found 
impossible  to  justify  the  promises  which  He  held  out  to 
the  human  race,  and  the  language  which  His  Apostles  used 
about  Him,  except  upon  such  grounds  as  those  which  are 
taken  by  the  Creed.  Men  may  wish  that  it  were  otherwise; 
but  we  can  no  more  reverse  the  underlying  laws  or  the 
providential  conditions  of  religious  truth,  than  we  can 
change  the  past  course  of  history.  To  discard  the  Creed 
and  imagine  that  we  can  go  back  intellectually  to  day* 


VIL] 


the  Athanasian  Creed. 


137 


when  the  questions  which  are  here  answered  had  not  yet 
"been  asked,  may  suggest  the  proceedings  of  a  statesman 
who  should  wish  to  reorganize  English  society  upon  the 
legislative  basis  of  the  Heptarchy.  For  these  questions 
thus  authoritatively  decided  in  this  Creed,  will  be  asked  by 
the  restless  mind  of  man  even  to  the  end  of  time ;  and  the 
answer  which  is  before  us  is  that  of  the  Church  of  Christ, 
reasserting,  in  new  terms,  the  original  meaning  of  the  faith 
which  she  guards,  and  in  the  spirit  of  a  true  charity  for 
souls,  bidding  us  receive  these  her  explanations  as  surely 
involved  in  that  act  of  perfect  trust  in  the  Son  of  God, 
which  is  the  earnest  of  true  spiritual  life. 

The  disuse  of  the  Athanasian  Creed  has  been  re- 
commended by  reference  to  the  case  of  the  State  Services, 1 
which  were  abandoned  a  few  years  ago.    Such  a  parallel 
i  would  almost  seem  to  imply  a  dulness  or  a  levity  un- 
worthy of  the  subject. 

Doubtless,  as  involving  an  acknowledgment  of  God's 
governing  Hand  in  our  national  life  and  history,  these 
Services  had  a  religious  value ;  and  in  the  century  which 
created  them  they  may  well  have  been  justified,  if  not  in 
all  their  expressions,  yet  at  least  in  their  general  drift,  by 
crimes  and  dangers  which  are  happily  remote  from  our- 
selves. But  there  was  much  to  be  said  against  perpetuating 
in  our  sanctuaries  the  echo  of  political  passions  which 
belonged  to  Another,  and  in  civil  matters,  a  less  favoured 
age.  And  the  Services  in  question,  originally  deficient  in 
ecclesiastical  sanction,  disappeared  from  among  us,  without 
any  action  on  the  part  of  the  Church,  without  any  general 
protest  against  their  disappearance,  and  with  some  confessed 
sense  of  relief.  It  does  not  follow  that  because  such  a  litur- 
gical representation  of  a  particular  view  of  portions  of  our 
national  history  could  be  disused  without  grave  offence,  it 
would  be  easy  to  discard  or  to  mutilate  one  of  these  solemn 

1  For  Nov.  5,  Jan.  30,  and  May  29. 


138 


The  Life  of  Faith  and 


[Serm. 


documents  in  which,  using  not  merely  the  language  of  our 
own  Communion,  but  language  adopted  by  the  Church  of 
Christ  at  large,  we  tell  out  before  God  and  man  the  revealed 
facts  of  God's  inner  Being,  and  the  Incarnation  and  Work 
of  our  Divine  Eedeemer.  To  presume  this  was  surely  to 
mistake  the  relative  importance  of  the  matters  in  question, 
and  the  mistake  is  as  inconsistent  with  statesmanlike 
insight  into  existing  convictions  as  it  is  unintelligible  in 
the  judgment  of  serious  faith. 

For  on  the  very  face  of  the  matter,  to  disuse  or  to 
mutilate  the  Athanasian  Creed  involves  the  first  great 
step  in  a  theological  revolution.  It  involves  the  public 
abandonment  of  a  position  with  relation  to  the  claims  of 
Christian  truth  which  the  Church  of  England  deliberately 
accepted  at  the  Eeformation,  and  which,  by  the  mouth  of 
her  best  and  wisest,  she  has  ever  since  maintained.  The 
use  of  this  Creed  in  our  Services  cannot  be  described  as  a 
foreign  element  which  survives  the  wreck  of  a  discarded 
system  through  having  in  some  way  escaped  the  jealous  eye 
of  liturgical  reformers.  The  Quicunque  w^as  indeed  trans- 
ferred from  the  Latin  Breviary,  as  were  the  Apostles'  Creed, 
the  Te  Deum,  or  the  Benedicite.  But  one  of  the  most 
deliberate  acts  of  the  leaders  of  the  Eeformation,  when 
editing  the  Prayer  Book  of  1 5  52,1  was  to  double  the  number 
of  days  on  which  this  Creed  was  to  be  used;  and  this 
measure  is  probably  attributable  to  Cranmer's  apprehensions 
of  the  Arian  opinions  which  had  made  themselves  felt  in 
England,  not  long  after  the  publication  of  the  earlier  Book 
in  1549.  Within  the  sixteenth  century,  the  use  of  the 
Creed  is  defended  by  Hooker  against  Cartwright,  on  the 

1  In  the  First  Prayer  Book  of  Edward  VI.  (1549)  the  Creed  is  ordered  to 
be  said  on  the  Feasts  of  Christmas,  the  Epiphany,  Easter,  the  Ascension, 
Pentecost,  and  Trinity  Sunday.  In  the  Second  Prayer  Book  (1552)  the 
following  days  were  added  :  St.  Matthias,  St.  John  Baptist,  St.  James, 
St.  Bartholomew,  St.  Matthew,  St.  Simon  and  St.  Jude,  St.  Andrew. 
These  thirteen  days  were  retained  in  1559,  1604,  and  1662. 


VII.] 


the  Athanasian  Creed. 


139 


practical  ground  of  existing  experience.  Hooker,  having 
in  his  mind  the  then  recent  histories  of  foreign  Eeformed 
bodies,  Zwinglian,  Calvinistic,  Moravian,  Bohemian,  Polish, 
and  the  acts  and  words  of  Socinus,  of  Gentilis,  of  Francis 
David,  of  Blandrata, — writes  that  "the  blasphemies  of 
Arians,  Samosatenians,  Tritheites,  Eutychians,  and  Mace- 
donians (he  is  quoting  in  part  the  very  admissions  of  Beza 
himself),  are  renewed  by  them  who,  to  hatch  their  heresy, 
have  chosen  those  Churches  as  fittest  nests  where  Athan- 
asius'  Creed  is  not  heard."1  The  murmurs  of  the  early 
objectors  died  away;  and  the  Creed  has  maintained  its 
position  through  successive  periods  of  change.  It  survived 
the  Hampton  Court  conference,  the  Savoy  revision,  and 
the  abortive  Commission  of  1689.  It  outlived  the 
hostility  of  popular  latitudinarianism  as  represented  by 
Tillotson,  and  the  acute  philosophical  Arianism  of  Dr. 
Samuel  Clarke,  of  Westminster,  and  the  frank  and  coarse 
scorn  of  Priestley.  Is  it  left  for  this  generation  to  surrender 
what  our  forefathers  have  preserved  to  us  at  the  cost  of  so 
much  effort,  often  of  so  much  obloquy  ?  Are  the  labours 
and  judgment  of  Hooker  and  of  Waterland  to  be  set  aside 
at  last,  and  in  the  interest  of  theories  which  until  the 
present  day  have  never  found  a  home  within  the  Church 
of  Christ  ?  Is  it  now  at  length  certain  that  our  future 
happiness  does  not  depend  upon  our  rightly  believing 
the  central  truths  of  the  Christian  faith  ?  or  has  the  Church 
failed  to  define  those  truths  accurately  in  the  language  of 
the  Quicunque  vult  ? 

Let  it  not  be  thought  that  the  disuse  or  mutilation  of  a 
Creed  is  any  mere  question  of  literary,  or  professional,  or 
antiquarian  feeling.  What  would  be  the  practical  effect 
of  such  disuse  upon  the  people  ?  Theologians  might  remark 
that  the  Creed  was  still  preserved  among  the  Thirty-nine 
Articles ;  but  the  question  would  be  asked  again  and  again, 

1  E.  P.  v.  xlii.  p.  188. 


140 


The  Life  of  Faith  and 


[Serm. 


"Why  was  it  deposed  from  its  old  position  ?  If  the  answer 
should  be  that  the  Creed  was  liable  to  being  misunderstood, 
it  would  be  rejoined  that  the  109th  Psalm,  in  the  popular 
use  of  which  the  risks  of  grave  misunderstanding  are  at  least 
greater,  was  still  used  by  the  Church  twelve  times  a  year. 
If  it  were  argued  that  the  Athanasian  Creed  required  too 
much  explanation,  it  would  be  asked  in  turn  whether  the 
Collects,  the  Prefaces  in  the  Communion  Service,  nay,  the 
other  Creeds,  suggested  no  serious  questions  which  needed 
explanation.  If  it  were  pleaded  that  the  origin  of  this  Creed 
was  obscure,  or  of  a  comparatively  late  age,  or  that  it  was 
not  really  written  by  the  great  Father  whose  name  it  bears, 
it  might  be  urged  with  greater  reason  that  the  origin  and 
composition  of  the  Apostles'  Creed  is  not  less  obscure,  its 
growth  even  more  gradual,  its  title  to  the  name  which  we 
give  it  more  difficult  of  strict  justification.  If  the  argu- 
ment should  be  advanced  that  no  (Ecumenical  Council  had 
sanctioned  this  Creed,  or  that  its  place  in  the  Services  of 
the  Eastern  Church  is  doubtful  or  insignificant,1  it  could 
be  replied  that  the  Apostles'  Creed,  too,  could  point  to  no 
formal  oecumenical  decision  in  its  favour ;  and  that  it  also 
is  unrecognised  in  the  public  prayers  of  the  Oriental  Church. 

The  broad  common  sense  of  the  people  would  argue  that 
the  Creed  was  discarded  because  it  was  imagined  to  be 
wholly  or  partly  untrue ;  untrue  enough,  it  would  he 
observed,  to  be  discredited  as  a  formulary  for  general  use, 
although  not  sufficiently  untrue  to  be  unfitted  for  solemn 
clerical  subscription.  The  fact  would  remain  patent  to  all 
men  that,  after  using  this  Creed  for  the  last  three  centuries 
on  all  the  greatest  festivals  of  the  Christian  year,  the 
English  Church  had  deliberately  abandoned  it;  and  the 
friends  and  foes  of  faith  would  alike  draw  their  own 

1  The  Athanasian  Creed  is  found  in  Eastern  Service-Books.  Cf.  Vpo\6- 
yiov,  p.  495,  ed.  Venice,  1868.  After  rb  Hvevfia  to  ay iov  dirb  tov  Jlarpbs, 
the  Western  clause  referring  to  the  Son  is  omitted. 


VI L]  the  Athanasian  Creed, 


conclusions  as  to  the  meaning  of  such  a  step. 1  It  would  be 
inferred  that  the  Church  of  England  no  longer  held  belief 
in  the  doctrines  of  the  Holy  Trinity  and  of  our  Lord's  Incar- 
nation, as  taught  by  the  Church  Universal,  to  be  necessary 
to  salvation ;  and  that  she  admitted  herself  to  have  erred 
in  affirming  this  necessity  since  the  Eeformation,  not  less 
than  before  it. 

But  the  Creed  would  be  really  rejected  because  it  is  too 
faithful  an  echo  of  that  Gospel  which  men  do  not  venture 
openly  to  reject.  "  This  is  life  eternal,  that  they  may 
know  Thee  the  only  true  God,  and  Jesus  Christ,  Whom 
Thou  hast  sent." 2  Eternal  life  consists  in  a  practical  know- 
ledge of  God  the  Holy  Trinity,  and  of  Jesus,  God  and  Man. 
And  thus  "  he  that  believeth  on  the  Son  hath  everlasting 
life,  but  he  that  believeth  not  the  Son  shall  not  see  life,  but 
the  wrath  of  God  abideth  on  him."  Nothing  can  be  urged 
against  the  principle  of  the  warning  clauses  which  is  not 
equally  applicable  to  the  principle  of  such  a  passage  as 
this.  The  Bible  and  the  Creed  alike  imply  the  moral 
character  of  faith,  the  connection  which  exists  between 
right  belief  and  moral  wellbeing,  the  consequences  which 
must  follow  upon  the  rejection  of  known  truth  from  per- 
versity of  will.  But  does  Holy  Scripture,  or  do  the  warning 
clauses  of  the  Creed  condemn  those  who  have  never  heard 
of  the  faith  ?  Certainly  not :  the  Church,  like  the  Apostle, 
cannot "  judge  them  that  are  without."3  Do  these  clauses  or 
does  that  text  condemn  those  who  have  had  to  contend  with 
difficulties  which  God  knows  to  have  been  insurmount- 
able, but  who  have  sincerely  sought  the  truth  which  the 
Creed  in  its  integrity  asserts  ?  Again,  I  say,  surely  not. 
"  Nemo  tenetur  ad  impossibile  "  is  a  first  maxim  of  natural 
morals.    The  violent  interpretation  which  would  press 

1  The  congratulations  which  were  addressed  by  the  Socinians  of  Belfast 
to  the  revisers  of  the  Irish  Prayer  Book  had  a  painful  significance. 

2  >St,  John  xvii.  3.  3  j  Q0Tt  v  l2 


142 


The  Life  of  Faith  and 


[Serm. 


these  general  statements  so  literally  as  to  admit  of  no  limi- 
tations would  be  no  less  fatal  to  the  general  assertions  of 
Holy  Scripture,  or  indeed  of  any  treatise  on  morals  and 
conduct.  No  human  judgment  can  safely  rule  the  fearful 
question,  to  what  individuals  these  clauses  do  apply  ?  He 
only  knows  Who  sees  us  as  we  are.  But  we  are  not  justi- 
fied in  silencing  the  proclamation  of  a  great  law  of  the 
kingdom  of  souls,  for  the  reason  that,  except  in  our  own 
case,  we  cannot  accurately  determine  the  range  of  its 
application. 

"  Surely,"  it  may  once  more  be  said,  "  the  Life  of  which 
the  text  speaks  as  being  possessed  by  the  believer  in  the 
Eternal  Son,  is  much  more  than  a  correct  logical  appre- 
hension of  His  place  in  the  scale  of  being."  God  forbid 
that  I  should  for  one  moment  deny  it.  Undoubtedly,  truth 
is  apprehended  vitally,  if  at  all,  by  the  spiritual  eye ;  it  is 
embraced,  if  to  any  real  purpose,  with  the  energy  of  the 
moral  nature.  With  the  heart,  now  as  of  old,  man  believeth 
unto  righteousness;1  now  as  of  old,  a  living  faith  means 
much  more  than  an  intellectual  assent,  however  perfect, 
to  a  Creed,  however  true.  But  the  intellect  also  has  its 
office  towards  religious  truth ;  it  contributes  an  important 
element  in  the  complex  act  of  faith ;  and  the  right  dis- 
charge of  this  office  is  itself  moral;  it  is  a  most  serious 
department  of  Christian  duty ;  it  is  a  work  incumbent  on 
us  in  exact  proportion  to  the  gifts  of  knowledge  and 
thought  which  we  have  severally  received. 

The  controversies  of  our  day  may  do  us  lasting  harm, 
if  they  lead  us  to  adhere  to  our  own  opinions  only 
because  they  are  our  own;  if  they  estrange  from  each 
other  hearts  which  should,  in  the  holiest  of  causes,  be 
one,  and  wreaken  by  dividing  moral  forces,  which  when 

1  Rom.  x.  10,  Kaphlq*  The  word  means  here,  as  generally  in  the  New 
Testament,  not  merely  the  seat  of  affection,  but  the  centre  point  of  the 
whole  inward  life.    Cf.  Delitzsch,  Bill.  Psych,  iv.  §  5. 


VII.] 


the  Athanasian  Creed. 


143 


united  are  none  too  strong  to  cope  successfully  with  the 
energies  of  evil  around  us.  But  if  we  should  have  been  en- 
dowed in  any  degree  with  the  high  and  rare  grace  of  intrepid 
loyalty  to  known  truth  allied  to  an  unselfish  spirit,  we,  too, 
may  "take  up  serpents,  and  if  we  drink  any  deadly  thing 
it  shall  not  hurt "  us.1  Xay,  more :  to  be  forced  back  upon 
the  central  realities  of  the  truth  which  we  profess ;  to  learn 
to  know  and  feel  better  than  ever  before  what  are  the  con- 
victions which  we  dare  not  surrender  at  any  cost ;  to  renew 
the  freshness  of  an  early  faith,  which  affirms  within  us 
clearly  and  irresistibly  that  the  one  thing  worth  thinking 
of,  worth  living  for,  if  need  were,  worth  dying  for,  is  the 
unmutilated  faith  of  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord ; — these  may 
;be  the  results  of  inevitable  differences,  and  if  they  are, 
they  are  blessings  indeed.  In  these,  as  in  other  ways, 
God  "  maketh  the  wilderness  a  standing  water,  and  water- 
springs  out  of  the  dry  ground."  Truth  has  her  sterner 
responsibilities  sooner  or  later  in  store  for  those  who  have 
known  anything  about  her ;  but  they  are  also  the  responsi- 
bilities of  a  pure  and  fearless  love  to  God  and  man,  and 
when  honestly  met,  they  are  blessed  proportionately. 

1  St.  Mark  xvi.  18. 


SERMON  VIII. 


CHRIST'S  SERVICE  AND  PUBLIC  OPINION. 
Gal.  i.  10. 

If  I  yet  pleased  men,  I  should  not  be  a  servant  of  Christ. 

ST.  PAUL  is  noticing  a  taunt  which  had  been  levelled 
at  him  by  some  opponents  of  his  authority  in  the 
Galatian  churches.  They  were  bent  upon  making  certain 
Jewish  observances  obligatory  upon  Christians.  But  while 
engaged  in  this  enterprise  they  were  met  by  the  objection 
that  the  Apostle  to  whom  the  faithful  in  Galatia  owed  so 
much  was  altogether  opposed  to  them.  St.  Paul's  oppo- 
sition could  not  be  ignored ;  but  then  St.  Paul  was  at  a 
distance,  and  it  was  thought  that  the  great  weight  of  his 
judgment  might  be  lessened  by  a  twofold  process.  His 
opponents  suggested  first  of  all  that  he  was  no  such  true 
apostle  as  were  the  Sacred  Twelve:  he  had  not  beer 
taught  and  sent  as  they  had  been,  by  our  Lord  Jesu.< 
Christ  Himself.1  How  completely  he  disposed  of  thi. 
objection  it  is  no  part  of  our  present  business  to  con 
sider;2  but  the  Galatian  teachers  had  another  weapoi 
in  reserve.  Whatever  St.  Paul's  authority  might  bf 
he  was,  they  contended,  a  man  of  such  facile  an1 

1  Gal.  i.  I,  II,  12.  2  Gal.  i.  12— ii.  19. 


Christ's  Service  and  Public  Opinion.  145 


plastic  temper,  that  when  once  he  had  satisfied  himself 
of  the  popularity  of  the  new  tendency  in  the  Galatian 
churches,  he  might  be  confidently  expected  to  withdraw 
any  serious  opposition.  His  large  sympathies  would 
ansure  his  acquiescence  in  all  that  the  new  teachers  had 
it  heart;  his  popular  instincts,  they  may  have  hinted, 
were  likely  to  prove  stronger  than  his  attachment  to  any 
^iven  religious  theory  or  to  any  single  religious  truth. 

Some  language  of  this  kind  must  have  found  its  way 
icross  the  sea  to  the  ears  of  the  great  missionary  during 
lis  three  months'  visit  to  Corinth.  Had  it  only  touched 
lis  personal  credit,  he  would  have  left  it,  we  may  be  sure, 
mnoticed.  He  does  notice  it,  because  it  could  not  remain 
.mchallenged  without  injury  to  his  Master's  work.  After 
.he  apostolical  greeting1  which  opens  his  letter  to  the 
Galatian  churches,  he  has  none  of  the  usual  congratula- 
tions, no  warm  expressions  of  sympathy  and  interest  for 
•eaders  who  have  so  largely  surrendered  themselves  to  an 
mposing  falsehood.  He  wonders  at  their  swift  transfer 
lo  another  gospel ;  no,  it  is  not  another,  since  there  is  only 
me.2  He  glances  in  anger  at  the  teachers — he  will  not 
lame  them — who  were  troubling  the  principles  and  faith 
>f  his  own  spiritual  children ;  they  were  men  who  would 
,0  alter  the  Gospel  of  Christ  as  to  give  it  a  totally  new 
lirection.3  But  the  matter  before  him  is  no  merely  personal 
:uestion ;  it  is  a  question  of  principle.  Though  he  himself 
Ir  an  angel  from  the  skies  should  preach  a  gospel  contra- 
cting that  which  he  had  preached,  let  the  preacher  be 
nathema,  let  him  be  sentenced  by  God  to  eternal  ruin.4 
lis  readers  might  suppose  that  he  was  using  words  which 
.'ere  the  result  of  a  momentary  irritation  and  in  excess  of 
lis  real  meaning ;  but  as  he  has  uttered  these  words 
eliberately  on  some  former  occasion,  he  will  deliberately 
jpeat  them.    "As  we  have  said  before,  so  say  I  also 

1  Gal.  i.  1-5.        2  Gah  i#  6>  7>      3  Ga1>  1  7>         4  Gal<  8< 

K 


146    Christ 's  Service  and  Public  Opinion.  [Serm. 


now  again,  If  any  man  preach  any  other  gospel  unto 
yon  than  that  ye  received  at  first,  let  him  be  anathema." 1 
Now,  at  any  rate,  there  could  be  no  room  for  mistake  as 
to  the  course  he  would  adopt  towards  the  new  teaching  in 
Galatia ;  and  every  reader  of  his  epistle  must  have  known, 
at  least  by  name,  the  men  whose  conduct  had  incurred 
this  solemn  and  authoritative  condemnation.  So  for  the 
moment,  before  pursuing  his  general  subject,  the  Apostle 
justifies  his  severity.  He  would  not  have  uttered  these 
stern  and  unsparing  sentences  if  his  first  object  had  been 
popularity  among  men  instead  of  the  approval  of  God. 
"  Do  I  now,"  he  asks,  "  win  over  to  myself  men  or  God  ? 
Or  am  I  seeking  to  be  an  object  of  man's  goodwill?  No: 
and  there  is  a  decisive  reason  against  any  such  efforts. 
If  I  were  still  pleasing  men,  if  I  had  not  resigned  the  hope 
of  human  favour  and  of  human  approval,  I  should  not  be 
the  slave  of  Christ." 2 

X 

The  title  which  the  Apostle  thus  gives  himself,  of 
servant  or  slave  of  Christ,  is  adopted  by  him,  and  in  a  more 
formal  manner,  on  other  occasions.3  It  expresses,  we  ma) 
be  sure,  no  mere  acquiescence  in  a  current  fashion  0 
Eastern  speech;  but  an  aspect  of  his  life  and  conduc 
which  he  desires  to  keep  before  himself  and  others.  St 
Paul  belonged  to  two  worlds,  the  Jewish  and  the  Greek 
and  in  this  title,  as  in  much  else  that  he  says  and  does,  h 
has  both  worlds  in  view.  In  the  language  of  the  Hebrew 
Scriptures  every  Israelite  is,  as  such,  a  servant  of  th 
Lord ; 4  and  to  the  collective  people,  viewed  in  its  separat 

1  Gal.  i.  9.  2  Gal.  i.  10. 

3  Rom.  i.  1.    Phil.  i.  1.    Tit.  i.  1.    Cf.  St.  James  i.  1.    St.  Judc 
2  St.  Pet.  i.  1.    Rev.  i.  1. 

4  Ps.  lxix.  37  ;  cxiii.  I  ;  cxxxiv.  I  ;  cxxxv.  I  ;  cxxxvi.  22,  etc.  h 
lxv.  8,  9,  13,  14. 


VIII.]  Christ's  Service  and  Public  Opinion.    1 4  7 


and  consecrated  life,  it  is  said,  "  Thou  Israel,  art  My 
servant.  .  .  .  Thou  whom  I  have  taken  from  the  ends 
of  the  earth,  and  called  thee  from  the  chief  men  thereof, 
and  said  unto  thee,  Thou  art  My  servant ;  I  have  chosen 
thee." 1  Besides  this  general  and  ethical  meaning,  the  title 
had  a  technical,  almost  an  official  force.  Any  man  who 
was  marked  out  from  among  his  fellows  as  having 
a  special  work  to  do  for  the  Lord  and  for  Israel  was 
regarded  as  taken  into  the  service  of  the  Invisible  King ; 
in  the  eyes  of  his  countrymen  he  was  robed  in  God's  livery, 
by  the  drift  of  events,  or  by  the  acts  and  tenor  of  his  life. 
Legislators  such  as  Moses,  soldiers  such  as  Joshua,  rulers 
such  as  David,  or  Eliakim,2  or  Zerubbabel,3  are  called  in 
Scripture  servants  of  the  Lord;4  nay,  the  title  is  given 
.to  pious  men  dwelling  on  the  very  frontiers  of  heathen- 
dom, whose  experience  teaches  the  people  of  Eevelation 
some  much-needed  lesson,  such  as  was  Job,5  or  even  to 
pagan  monarchs,  intrusted  by  Providence  with  some  stern 
mission  to  Israel,  as  was  Nebuchadnezzar.6  In  this  sense, 
.00,  every  member  of  the  order  of  prophets  came  in  time 
:o  be  termed  a  servant  of  the  Lord ; 7  and  the  title  reached 
its  highest  significance  when,  in  the  later  writings8  of 
[saiah,  it  was  used  of  the  King  Messiah,  Whose  future 
mmiliations  and  glory  there  mingle  indistinctly  with  the 
learer  although  still  distant  sufferings  and  deliverance  of 
he  martyr-people  in  Babylon. 

When,  then,  St.  Peter  and  St.  Jude,  writing  to  Churches 
mainly  or  entirely  of  Jewish  origin,  style  themselves 

1  Isa.  xli.  8,  9.  2  Isa.  xxii.  20.  3  Hag.  ii.  23. 

4  Deut.  xxxiv.  5.  Josh.  i.  1,  13,  15  ;  xxiv.  29.  Ps.  xviii.  title ;  xxxvi. 
tie;  lxxviii.  70;  lxxxix.  3,  20.    Jer.  xxxiii.  21. 

5  Job  i.  8  ;  ii.  3  ;  xlii.  8. 

6  Jer.  xxv.  9  ;  xxvii.  6;  xliii.  10. 

7  Amos  iii.  7.  Jer.  vii.  25  ;  xxv.  4,  and  often.  Dan.  ix.  6.  Isa, 
:x.  3. 

3  Isa.  xlii.  i-7;  xlix.  *-9;  1.  4.10;  Hi.  13;  liii.  11. 


148     Christ s  Service  and  Pit b lie  Opinion.  [Serm. 


servants  of  Jesus  Christ,  it  is  probable  that  these  Apostles 
understand  the  title  chiefly,  if  not  exclusively,  in  the 
traditional  and  narrower  Hebrew  sense.    But  when  St. 
Paul,  writing  to  the  Eoman  or  the  Philippian  Church,  calls 
himself,  or  himself  and  Timothy,  servants  of  Jesus  Christ, 
it  is  difficult  to  suppose  that  he  does  not  read  into  the 
title  the  meaning  which  his  readers  would  naturally  find 
there.    In  these  Churches,  consisting  altogether  or  pre- 
dominantly of  converts  from  heathendom,  the  phrase 
would  rather  suggest  the  ordinary  slave  of  the  Graeco- 
Eoman  world  than  the  inspired  or  distinguished  servant 
of  the  Hebrew  theocracy.    That  uncounted  population  of 
human  beings,  which  worked  and  suffered  in  silence, 
which  tilled  the  fields,  which  manned  the  fleets,  which 
constructed  the  palaces  and  bridges  of  the  world ;  which 
supplied  to  those  who  had  property  and  power  their  cooks, 
carpenters,  painters,  astronomers,  doctors,  copyists,  poets, 
valets,  gladiators,  buffoons;  which  ministered  to  the  re- 
finement, to  the  intelligence,  to  the  luxury,  to  the  passions 
of  the  wealthy;  which  by  its  ceaseless  and  almost  un- 
noticed waste  of  unregretted  life,  satisfied  the  requirements 
or  helped  to  fill  the  coffers  of  the  State ; — the  great  class 
of  slaves  was  often  the  most  conspicuous,  as  it  was  always 
the  saddest  element  in  the  old  pagan  society.    In  the  view 
of  antiquity  the  slave  was  but  an  "  animated  instrument ; ' 
a  mere  body  which  chanced  to  be  endowed  with  certair 
mental  capacities.  There  was  at  Athens,  says  Hesychius,  ar 
enclosure  where  they  sold  arKevrj  kcli  o-w/xara — utensils  an( 
bodies.    In  the  eye  of  the  law  the  slave  was  not  a  person 
he  was  classed  by  the  jurists  with  goods  or  with  animalt 
He  was  sold  ;  he  was  bequeathed  by  will ;  he  was  lent  to 
friend ;  he  was  shut  up  ;  and  until  later  ages  he  was  kille- 
at  the  discretion  of  his  owner.    He  had  no  rights  whateve 
before  the  law;  "servile  caput  nullum  jus  habet;"  so  sai 
the  lawyers.    Cato  advised  an  economical  householder  t 


VIII. 


Christ's  Service  and  Public  Opinion.  149 


sell  off  his  old  cattle  and  his  sick  slaves.  Pliny  speaks  of 
the  slaves  as  a  class  of  men  who  were  habitually  desperate. 
Seneca,  writing  on  the  tranquillity  of  the  soul,  mournfully 
reflects  that  he  must  avail  himself  of  the  services  of 
persons  who  are  miserable  and  who  cannot  endure  him ; 
"  flentium  detestantiuruque  ministeriis  utendum  est." 1 
And  the  best  word  of  counsel  which  the  Stoic  philosophy 
could  give  to  inquiring  despair  was  suicide.  "  Wherever,'' 
says  Seneca,  writing  to  a  person  about  court  in  a  servile 
and  degraded  position — "  wherever  you  turn  your  eyes,  you 
see  the  possible  end  of  your  sufferings.  Here  is  a  pre- 
cipice ;  you  may  descend  it  to  liberty.  There  is  the  sea, 
a  river,  a  well;  freedom  is  at  the  bottom.  Yonder  is  a 
tree ;  liberty  hangs  from  its  branches.  Here  is  your  throat 
or  your  heart;  pierce  them  and  you  are  free.  Are  such 
deaths  as  these  too  painful ;  do  they  demand  too  much  of 
your  strength  and  resolution  ?  Would  you  travel  towards 
liberty  by  an  easier  path  ?  Then  every  vein  in  your  body 
may  open  the  way  to  it."  2 

The  slave  of  Jesus  Christ !  Yes  ;  it  was  in  the  Greek 
as  well  as  in  the  Hebrew  sense  of  the  term  that  St.  Paul 
would  describe  his  relationship  to  the  Divine  Redeemer. 
He  was  not  simply  a  servant  holding  an  honourable  post 
.n  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven,  which  he  might  relinquish  at 
pleasure:  he  was  a  slave.  And  in  this  abandonment  of 
ill  human  liberty  at  the  feet  of  Jesus  Christ;  in  this 
xtter  surrender  of  the  right  to  dispose  of  his  intelligence, 
)f  his  affections,  of  his  employment  of  time  and  property,  of 
lis  movements  from  place  to  place,  except  as  his  Master 
night  command,  St.  Paul  found  the  true  dignity  and  the 
-rue  happiness  of  his  being.  His  sense  of  justice  was 
satisfied  by  this  as  by  no  other  relationship  to  Jesus 
Christ.  For  him  our  Divine  Saviour  was  not  merely  a 
■inless  and  incomparable  Person,  Whom  it  was  a  pleasure 

.  1  De  Tranquillitate  Animi,  c.  9.       2  Senec.  Cons,  ad  Marciam,  20. 


150  Chris? s  Service  and  Public  Opinion.  [Serm. 


and  an  honour  to  approach  and  to  obey ;  the  relations 
between  them  were   more  urgent   and  exacting.  St. 
Paul  was  already  a  moral  slave  when  Jesus  Christ  found 
him,  subject  to  the  power  of  sin  and  death ;  and  out  of 
this  slavery  he  too  had  been  bought  by  the  ransom  paid 
for  all  the  world  upon  the  Cross  of  Calvary.    Of  the  three 
aspects  under  which  the  Atonement  is  presented  to  us  in 
his  epistles,  as  a  propitiation  for  sin,1  a  reconciliation 
with  God,2  and  a  redemption  from  captivity  to  evil  and 
to  death,3  it  is  the  last  which  sinks  most  deeply  into  the 
heart  of  the  Apostle,  and  which  shapes  most  decisively 
the  features  of  his  life.    He  belonged  to  Jesus  Christ, 
not  by  any  original  or  voluntary  act  of  his  own,  but  be- 
cause, as  he  could  not  but  acknowledge,  Jesus  Christ  had 
paid  for  him.    Jesus  had  bought  him  at  an  incalculable 
cost  out  of  a  slavery  which  was  misery  and  degradation, 
into  a  service  which,  whatever  its  outward  aspects,  he 
knew  to  be  freedom  indeed.    As  he  said  to  his  own 
children  in  the  faith,  "Ye  are  bought  with  a  price;  be- 
come not  the  slaves  of  men;"4  "Ye  are  bought  with  a 
price,  therefore  glorify  God  in  your  body  and  in  youi 
spirit,  which  are  God's;"5  so,  for  himself,  he  exultinglj 
counted  the  scars  which  he  had  received  at  the  hand 
of  pagan  persecutors  as  so  many  "marks"  of  the  Lor< 
Jesus  which  he  was  privileged  to  bear  in  his  body 
just   as   the   slaves   in  the  Eoman  workhouses  wer 
branded  with  a  hot  iron  that  there  might  be  no  leg; 
questions  about  their  ownership.6    Not  for  all  the  worl 
would  he  have  had  it  otherwise :  not  for  all  the  libertit 
that  man  could  conceivably  enjoy  apart  from  Chris 
would  he  surrender  the  privilege  of  complete  enslavemei 
in  thought  and  conduct  to  This  Most  Gracious  and  Be 

1  Rom.  iii.  25.  2  2  Cor.  v.  19.    Rom.  v.  10. 

a  Gal.  iii.  13.  4  1  Cor.  vii.  23.  5  1  Cor.  vi.  20. 

6  Gal.  vi.  17,  to.  ariyfjiaTa  rod  Kvpiov  'Irjaov  ivr^  aufjLarl  /xov  fiaaraZu 


VIII.]  Christ 9s  Service  and  Public  Opinion.  151 


of  masters.1  "The  love  of  Christ  constraineth  us,"  he 
said:  "because  we  thus  judge,  that  if  He  died  for  all, 
then  were  all  dead :  and  that  He  died  for  all,  that  they 
which  live  should  not  henceforth  live  unto  themselves, 
but  unto  Him  Which  died  for  them,  and  rose  again."  2 

It 

The  dignity  of  service,  like  the  dignity  of  labour,  is  a 
moral  fact  which  the  world  is  slow  to  understand.  To 
us  of  this  generation  it  is  obscured  or  rather  banished 
from  sight  by  an  obtrusive  counter-ideal ;  need  I  name  the 
supposed  dignity  of  independence  or  of  self-dependence  ? 
Here,  as  elsewhere,  our  theories  of  religious  relations  have 
been  shaped,  and  not  for  the  better,  by  the  disturbing 
influence  of  political  ideas.  We  have  never  traced,  or  we 
have  forgotten,  the  real  origin  of  our  habits  of  thought; 
and  we  ascribe  them  to  Eevelation,  much  as  country- 
people  search  their  Bibles  for  oft-quoted  texts  which 
have,  in  reality,  quite  another  and  a  very  homely  origin. 
Doubtless,  if  we  look  only  to  the  creatures  around  and 
below  us,  we  may  for  a  moment  suppose  that  we  are 
meant  not  to  serve  but  to  command.  Compared  with 
them,  we  cannot  but  recognise  in  ourselves  the  possession 
of  powers  which  ensure  superiority.  They  may,  indeed, 
excel  us  in  swiftness,  in  strength,  in  keenness  of  ear  or  of 
eye,  in  far-reaching  and  varied  subtlety  of  instinct ;  but 
there  is  that  in  man  before  which  they  fall  back  and 
quail  as  before  a  higher  power.  Man  is  a  spirit,  conscious 
of  its  existence,  capable  of  reflecting  on  it,  of  measuring  it, 
and  of  forming  an  estimate  of  all  around  it.  And  thus 
God  has  "made  man  to  have  dominion  over  the  work 
of  His  hands,  and  has  put  all  things  in  subjection  under 
his  feet;  all  sheep  and  oxen,  yea,  and  the  beasts  of  the 

1  Phil.  iii.  8.  >  2  Cor.  v.  14,  15. 


152    Christ's  Service  and  Public  Opinion.  [Serm. 


field ;  the  fowls  of  the  air,  and  the  fishes  of  the  sea,  and 
whatsoever  wTalketh  in  the  paths  of  the  sea." 1  Among  the 
lower  creatures  man  is  made  for  command ;  and  he  has 
had  some  thousands  of  years  in  which  to  strengthen  and 
extend  his  empire.  But  does  it  therefore  follow  that  there 
is  none  above  man  to  whom  he  stands  in  a  relation  some- 
what analogous  to  that  in  which  the  lower  animals  stand 
towards  himself  ?  Is  he  to  suppose  that  the  hierarchy  of 
beings  which  rises  by  such  gradual  steps  from  the  lowest 
zoophyte  to  the  race  of  Newton  and  Shakespeare  does 
in  very  truth  rise  no  higher ;  that  it  stops  abruptly  at  the 
link  which  he  himself  forms,  between  an  animal  organism 
and  a  personal  spirit  ?  Is  it  not  more  reasonable  to  sup- 
pose that  the  upward  series  continues,  and  that  above  man 
there  are  beings  stretching,  in  rank  beyond  rank  of  ascend- 
ing excellence,  upwards  towards  the  throne  of  the  Un- 
created and  the  Eternal  ?  And  supposing  such  beings  to 
exist,  as  Eevelation  says  they  do  exist,  is  it  not  at  least 
conceivable  that  they  do  in  sundry  ways  limit  our  inde- 
pendence, just  as  we,  on  our  part,  interfere  with  that  of 
creatures  below  us  ?  Say,  if  you  will,  that  this  is  only  a 
speculation ;  but  what  is  to  be  said  of  man's  relations  to 
that  Being  of  beings  Who  is  separated  from  the  highest 
archangel  by  a  measureless  interval  ?  Is  it  possible  that, 
face  to  face  with  God,  man  can  claim  to  be  independent  or 
self-dependent  ?  We  owe,  each  of  us,  to  God  the  original 
gift  of  existence.  We  owe  to  God  the  continuance  of  this 
gift,  moment  by  moment,  as  we  exist.  When  He  thinks 
well,  and  at  a  moment  which  He  has  already  determined, 
our  present  existence  will  end ;  and  it  will  end  in  some 
manner  which  He  has  willed,  and  of  which  we  know 
nothing.  Independence  in  the  sense  contemplated  is  an 
impossible  theory  of  life  for  any  man  who  believes 
seriously  in  the  existence  of  a  Supreme  Being. 

1  Ps.  viii.  6-8. 


VI I  I.J  Christ 's  Service  and  Public  Opinion.  153 


And  therefore  service  is  the  true  law,  the  true  dignity 
of  man's  existence.  Service  is  written  everywhere,  for 
those  who  have  eyes  to  see,  on  the  face  of  creation. 
The  service  of  unconscious  law  ;  the  service  of  sentient  life  ; 
the  service  of  rational  and  free  beings ;  the  service  of  the 
splendid  and  illuminated  intelligences  around  the  Throne, 
— these  are  the  steps  in  the  ascent.  But  between  the 
purely  material  bodies  to  which  God  has  given  a  law  that 
it  should  not  be  broken,  and  those  majestic  and  spiritual 
ministers  of  His  who  do  His  pleasure  in  the  highest 
realms  of  created  life,  there  is  the  bond  of  this  universal 
and  constraining  law,  which  holds  all  created  things  in 
subjection  to  the  Will  of  the  Great  Creator.  The  same 
,  witness  is  borne  by  the  faculties  of  the  soul  of  man.  Man 
is  free;  but  he  can  only  preserve  his  true  freedom  by 
a  voluntary  service.  His  reason,  his  affections,  his  will 
cannot  dispose  of  themselves  capriciously  with  entire  im- 
punity. Truth,  beauty,  goodness,  these  are  the  objects  of 
their  rightful  service ;  and  what  are  these  but  aspects  of 
the  Eternal  God  ?  Believe  that  all  truth  is  unattainable ; 
and  the  ruin  of  the  understanding  is  only  a  question  of 
time.  Treat  moral  beauty  as  a  mere  fancy ;  and  the  degra- 
dation of  the  affections  must  quickly  follow.  Decide  that 
right  and  wrong  are  only  phases  of  human  feeling;  and 
the  unnerved  will  must  ere  long  forfeit  all  that  gives  it 
directness  and  strength.  It  is  only  in  the  service  of  high 
ideals  that  the  soul  of  man  can  attain  its  excellence ;  and 
when  these  are  renounced,  man  does  not  escane  from 
service,  he  only  changes  masters,  and  that  for  the  worse. 
He  falls  back  under  the  empire  of  sense  or  of  nature,  and 
he  finds  in  the  depths  of  his  degradation  the  justification 
of  the  law  against  which  he  has  rebelled. 

Nay  more,  all  the  apparent  superiorities  among  men  are 
really  forms  of  service.  What  is  government  but  service, 
not  indeed  of  the  follies  and  passions,  but  of  the  true 


154    Chrisf  s  Service  and  Public  Opinion.  [Serm. 


interests  of  the  people  ?  The  highest  in  rank  knows  that 
he  consults  his  real  dignity  most  effectively  when  he  pro- 
fesses himself  the  obedient  humble  servant  of  a  rival  or 
an  inferior.  The  head  of  a  great  hierarchy,  in  whom  its 
power  is  absolutely  centred,  appears  before  the  Christian 
world  on  occasions  of  critical  solemnity  as  Servant  of  the 
servants  of  God.  Whatever  inconsistencies  may  be  in- 
volved in  the  use  of  such  conventional  language,  it  is  an 
act  of  homage  to  a  truth  which  no  man  with  an  eye  for 
moral  beauty  will  dispute ;  it  proclaims  that  service,  so  far 
from  involving  degradation,  is  an  ornament  of  human 
nature,  a  true  patent  of  nobility.  For  Christians,  indeed, 
this  greatness  of  service  is  beyond  discussion.  He  Whom 
we  worship  and  love,  as  the  Prince  and  Flower  of  our  race, 
has,  by  His  words  and  His  example,  set  the  seal  of  His 
high  approval  on  this  distinctive  excellence  of  man.  He, 
the  Object  of  our  service,  is  also  its  Model.  He  has 
taught  us,  by  a  parable  for  all  time,  how  to  serve  Himself 
in  the  service  of  others.  The  form,  indeed,  which  at  His 
Incarnation  He  took  on  Him  was  the  form  of  a  servant. 
The  life  which  He  lived  on  earth  was  a  life  of  service. 
Again  and  again  He  verified  His  own  words;  He  was 
among  men  as  One  that  serveth,  but  never  more  markedly 
than  on  the  solemn  evening  which  He  passed  with  His 
disciples  before  He  died.  Note  how  the  Evangelist  who 
describes  the  scene  contrasts  the  high  and  ever-present 
consciousness  of  a  superhuman  greatness  with  the  lowly 
bearing  of  the  Servant  of  men.  "  Jesus,  knowing  that  the 
Father  had  given  all  things  into  His  hands,  and  that  He  was 
come  from  God,  and  went  to  God ;  He  riseth  from  supper, 
and  laid  aside  His  garments ;  and  took  a  towel,  and  girded 
Himself.  After  that  He  poureth  water  into  a  bason,  and 
began  to  wash  the  disciples'  feet,  and  to  wipe  them  with 
the  towel  wherewith  He  was  girded." 1 

1  St.  John  xiii.  3-5. 


VIII. 


Christ's  Service  and  Picblic  Opinion.  155 


III. 

There  are  many  hindrances  to  this  service.  The  Apostle 
notes  one.  "  If  I  yet  pleased  men,  I  should  not  be  the 
servant  of  Christ." 

St.  Paul  is  distinguishing  between  giving  men  satisfac- 
tion and  doing  them  essential  good ;  between  action  which 
is  popular  and  action  which  is  wise  and  conscientious.  He 
is  probably  thinking  of  such  words  of  our  Lord  as  that  "  no 
man  can  serve  two  masters ;  "  1  and  that  the  man  of  whom 
all  speak  well  on  earth  is  very  far  indeed  from  being 
entitled  to  the  congratulations  of  heaven.2  St.  Paul  had 
known  what  it  was  to  "  please  men,"  and  to  succeed  by  doing 
so.  He  had  enjoyed  great  consideration  among  all  classes 
in  Jerusalem ;  and  he  may  have  reconciled  himself  with 
some  difficulty  to  the  realities  of  his  new  life.  A  man  of 
his  strong  affections  and  simple  purpose  might  have  hoped 
to  live  down  opposition,  to  reconcile  to  himself  even  the 
fiercest  prejudices,  to  combine  some  measure  of  toleration 
and  approval  on  the  part  of  his  old  friends,  with  loyalty  to 
the  creed  of  his  conversion.  To  a  character  so  sympathetic, 
so  sensitive  as  his,  it  would  have  been  painful  in  no  ordi- 
nary degree  to  have  to  acquiesce  in  the  conviction,  that  if  he 
was  to  do  his  duty,  he  must  incur  the  permanent  enmity 
of  large  bodies  of  his  fellow-men.  Yet  already,  when  he 
wrote  his  first  Epistle  to  the  Thessalonians,  he  had  learned 
this  truth ;  he  had  preached  the  Gospel  to  them  with  much 
contention,3  and  "not  as  pleasing  men,  but  God,  Which 
trieth  our  hearts."4  And  in  both  his  Corinthian  letters 
we  see  how  entirely  he  takes  it  for  granted  that  the  servant 
of  Christ  in  the  Apostolate  will  not  be  an  object  of  general 
goodwill,  but  of  much  bitter  calumny  and  suspicion ;  he 
must  approve  himself  a  minister  of  God  in  much  patience; 

1  St.  Matt.  vi.  24.  2  St.  Luke  vi.  26. 

3  1  Thess.  ii.  2.  4  1  Thcss.  ii.  4. 


156    Christ fs  Service  and  Public  Opinion.  ["Serm. 


he  is  to  make  his  way  by  evil  report  and  good  report; 
he  is  to  pass  as  a  deceiver,  and  yet  be  true ; 1  he  is  "  in 
stripes  above  measure,"  "  in  prisons  more  frequent "  than 
others.2  It  seems  to  him,  he  says,  that  "  God  has  set  forth 
the  Apostles  last,  as  it  were  appointed  unto  death ;  for  they 
are  made  a  spectacle  to  the  world,  and  to  angels,  and  to 
men ;  they  are  fools  for  Christ's  sake,  .  .  .  they  are  weak, 
.  .  .  they  are  despised,  .  .  .  they  are  made  as  the  filth  of  the 
world,  and  are  the  offscouring  of  all  things  unto  this  day." 3 
It  was  his  own  doing  after  all;  had  he  so  chosen  it 
might  have  been  otherwise.  He  might  have  kept  on  good 
terms  with  that  powerful  Jewish  society  in  which  he  was 
brought  up,  and  in  which  he  had  excellent  connections — 
that  Jewish  society  then,  as  ever,  so  wealthy,  so  widespread, 
so  shrewd  and  practical,  so  familiar  with  all  that  commands 
political  influence  and  personal  self-advancement,  so  able 
to  bestow  prosperity  on  talent  that  is  loyal  to  it,  and  that 
can  help  it  in  turn.  He  might  have  succeeded  Gamaliel  as 
President  of  the  Sanhedrin,  to  enjoy  Hillei's  reputation  for 
mild  wisdom,  or  to  be  the  subject  of  mysterious  traditions 
such  as  those  which  surround  Jochanan  ben  Zaccai,  or  to 
become  a  fierce  politician  like  Eabbi  Akiba,  with  happier 
results  it  may  be  to  his  country  and  himself ;  he  might 
even  have  attained  an  earthly  immortality,  such  as  could 
have  been  conferred  by  some  honourable  association  with 
the  wisdom  and  the  follies  of  the  Talmud.  Even  after  that 
memorable  occurrence  on  the  road  to  Damascus  all  was  not 
forfeited ;  a  return  to  the  Synagogue  was  more  than  pos- 
sible. Could  he  only  have  consented  to  treat  his  conversion 
as  an  impression  unaccountably  created  by  a  thunderstorm, 
as  a  psychological  illusion,  or  as  a  trick  of  the  evil  one; 
could  he  only  have  once  more  cursed  the  Crucified  Nazarene, 
and  undertaken  the  work  of  officially  persecuting  His  wor- 
shippers, everything  might  have  been  his,  in  the  way  of 

1  2  Cor.  vi.  4,  8.  2  2  Cor.  xi.  23.  3  1  Cor.  iv.  9-13. 


VI I L]  Christ 's  Service  and  Public  Opinion,  157 


wealth,  respect,  influence.  He  would  have  escaped  the 
hatred  of  an  entire  people  ;  a  hatred,  deadly,  implacable ; 
a  hatred  which  would  dog  his  steps  from  city  to  city,  which 
never  would  rest  till  it  had  punished  his  apostasy  as  such 
an  apostate  deserved.  He  might  have  escaped  the  stripes, 
the  plots,  the  stonings,  the  prisons  which  awaited  him  at 
Csesarea,  and  at  Rome ;  but  then,  u  had  he  pleased  men,  he 
would  not  have  been  the  servant  of  Christ." 

He  had  broken  with  the  Synagogue;  but  he  had  a 
second  chance  in  life ;  he  was  already,  by  his  education  at 
Tarsus,  half  a  Greek.  The  life  and  culture  of  the  Greek 
world,  its  political  ideas,  its  public  amusements,  its 
popular  literature,  its  modes  of  thought,  were  far  from 
unfamiliar  to  him.  Settled  at  Alexandria,  or  wherever 
contact  with  Greek  civilization  was  most  natural  and  easy, 
he  might  have  platonized  what  remained  of  his  early  modes 
of  thinking,  and  have  passed  with  distinction  into  the 
intellectual  and  social  life  of  the  Grseco-Roman  society. 
But  then  Greek  opinion  was  fastidious,  and  to  keep  on 
good  terms  with  it  required  caution  and  flexibility.  Had 
Paul  sought  to  please  the  Greeks,  he  would  not  have 
provoked  their  cultivated  levities  by  any  such  doctrine 
as  that  of  the  Cross  ;  he  would  not  have  opposed  to  the 
vague  spiritualism  of  their  better  philosophy  his  own 
unalterable  faith  in  Christ's  literal  resurrection  from  the 
dead  ;  he  would  not  have  roused  their  jealousies  of  race  by 
an  ostentatious  zeal  for  the  very  countrymen  who  were  even 
then  seeking  to  take  his  life.  If  he  had  really  "pleased 
men "  generally  at  Athens  or  at  Corinth,  he  would  have 
ceased  to  be  a  servant  of  Christ. 

Certainly  it  was  strange  that  the  Galatian  leaders  did 
not  know  the  man  with  whom  they  had  to  deal.  They 
■probably  fell  into  the  common  mistake  of  confusing 
courtesy  with  weakness,  and  indifference  to  what  is 
accidental  with  a  compromise  of  principle.    They  thought 


158    Christ's  Service  and  Public  Opinion.  [Serm. 


that  the  Apostle,  who  to  the  Jews  could  become  as  a 
Jew  that  he  might  save  the  Jews,1  would  become  a 
Judaizer  with  the  Judaizers  that  he  might  be  popular 
with  the  Judaizers.  They  knew  that  he  could  be  made  all 
things  to  all  men,2  but  they  forgot  that  it  was  upon  the 
condition  of  serving  Christ  by  saving  some  of  those  for 
whom  He  died. 

IV. 

Under  what  form  does  this  temptation  to  please  men 
at  the  cost  of  a  higher  sense  of  duty  especially  present 
itself  to  ourselves  ? 

When,  in  the  early  years  of  manhood,  we  first  try  to 
take  the  measure  of  the  world  in  which  Providence  has 
placed  us,  nothing  is  more  calculated  to  arrest  our  atten- 
tion than  that  most  energetic  of  all  abstractions,  public 
opinion.  Public  opinion  is  that  common  stock  of  thought 
and  sentiment  which  is  created  by  human  society,  or  by 
a  particular  section  of  it,  and  which  in  turn  keeps  its 
authors  under  strict  control.  It  is  a  natural  product ;  it 
is  a  deposit  which  cannot  but  result  from  human  inter- 
course ;  no  sooner  do  men  associate  with  one  another  than 
a  public  opinion  of  some  kind  comes  to  be.  And  as 
civilization  advances,  and  man  multiplies  the  channels 
whereby  he  ascertains  and  governs  the  thoughts  of  his 
fellow-man,  public  opinion  grows  in  its  strength  and  in 
its  area;  and  men  voluntarily,  or  rather  instinctively, 
abandon  an  increasing  district  of  their  understandings  and 
of  their  conduct  to  its  undisputed  control.  It  varies,  in 
defmiteness  and  in  exigency,  with  the  number  of  human 
beings  which  it  happens  to  represent:  there  is  a  public 
opinion  proper  to  each  village  or  town,  to  each  society  or 
profession,  to  a  country,  to  a  civilization,  to  the  world ;  but 
between  the  most  general  and  the  narrowest  forms  of  this 

1  1  Cor.  ix.  20.  2  1  Cor.  ix.  22. 


VIII.]  Christ's  Service  and  Pziblic  Opinion.  159 


common  bodv  of  thought  and  sentiment  there  are  bands 
and  joints  which  weld  the  whole  into  substantial  unity. 

And  in  modern  times  public  opinion  has  taken  a  con- 
crete body  and  form,  such  as  two  centuries  ago  was 
undreamt  of;  it  lives  and  works  in  the  daily  press.  In 
the  press  we  see,  visibly  embodied,  this  empire  of  opinion, 
with  its  countless  .varieties  and  subdivisions,  and  its 
strong  corporate  spirit  and  substantial  unity.  We  all  live 
face  to  face  with  the  press ;  and  every  man  who  hopes,  I 
will  not  say  to  do  much  good  to  his  fellow-men,  but  to  keep 
his  own  conscience  in  moderately  good  order,  knows  that  in 
this  servant  of  public  opinion  he  encounters  a  force  with 
which,  sooner  or  later,  on  a  large  scale  or  a  small,  before 
the  world  or  in  the  recesses  of  his  own  conscience,  he  may 
have  to  reckon ;  whether,  like  St.  Paul,  he  bears  a  com- 
mission from  heaven,  or  whether  he  only  endeavours  to  be 
loyal  to  such  truth  as  he  knows  of,  chiefly  or  altogether 
concerning  the  things  of  earth. 

What  is  the  duty  of  a  Christian  towards  this  ubiquitous 
and  penetrating  agency  ?  Is  he  to  ignore  or  despise  it,  in 
the  spirit  of  some  Stoic  of  the  earlier  school  ?  Assuredly 
not.  St.  Paul  was  respectful  even  towards  heathen 
opinion;  he  bids  Christians  do  nothing  recklessly  to 
forfeit  its  favourable  judgment;1  he  shapes  his  phrases, 
not  seldom,  as  would  a  man  who  is  guided  by  this 
instinctive  deference.  For,  always  and  everywhere,  public 
opinion  must  needs  contain  certain,  perhaps  considerable, 
elements  of  truth.  Those  ^reat  moral  ideas  of  righteous- 
ness  and  retribution,  which  are  to  human  conduct  what 
its  axioms  are  to  mathematical  science,  and  which  have 
their  attestation  or  their  echo  in  the  depths  of  every 
human  soul,  do,  more  or  less,  enter  as  ingredients  into  all 
forms  of  public  opinion;  they  secure  to  it  a  claim  on 
respectful  attention;  they  preserve  it  from  the  rapid 

1  Col.  iv.  5.    1  Thess.  iv.  12.    1  Tim.  iii.  7. 


160  Christ 's  Service  and  Public  Opinion.  [Serm. 


disintegration  which,  without  them,  could  not  but  overtake 
it.  They  may  be  grossly  misapplied,  or  associated  with 
wild  profanity  and  folly ;  but  they  forbid  us  to  treat 
any  public  opinion  as  wholly  worthless  or  erroneous; 
they  secure  to  it  an  element  which  is  certainly  from  above, 
and  which  may  partly  shape  the  baser  material  in  which 
it  is  imbedded. 

Are  we  then  to  place  ourselves  trustfully  in  its  hands, 
to  defer  to,  and  to  obey  it,  at  least  in  a  Christian  country, 
and  in  an  age  of  enlightenment  and  progress  ?  Is  it  to 
furnish  us,  in  the  last  resort,  with  a  rule  of  conduct  or  with 
our  standards  of  moral  and  religious  truth  ? 

Again,  assuredly  not.  For  consider  how  this  public 
opinion  is  formed :  it  is  practically  the  result  of  a  general 
subscription;  it  is  the  workmanship  of  all  the  human 
beings  who  go  to  make  up  society  or  a  section  of  society. 
Certainly  the  wise,  the  experienced,  the  conscientious,  the 
disinterested,  contribute  towards  it,  each  in  proportion  to 
his  weight  and  influence.  But  as  certainly,  also,  the 
reckless,  the  unprincipled,  the  foolish,  the  selfish,  have 
their  share  in  producing  it ;  a  larger  share,  the  wrorld  being 
what  it  is,  than  their  nobler  rivals.  In  public  opinion 
power  often  counts  for  more  than  character;  Nero  could 
shape  opinion  at  Eome  more  effectively  than  Seneca. 
Genius  which  holds  itself  bound  by  moral  considerations 
is  often  less  influential,  at  least  for  a  time,  than  genius 
which  mocks  jauntily  at  the  simple  distinctions  between 
right  and  wrong.  Public  opinion  is,  in  point  of  fact,  a 
conglomerate ;  it  is  a  compromise  between  the  many 
elements  which  go  to  make  up  human  society,  a  compro- 
mise in  which  all  are  represented,  but  in  which,  upon  the 
whole,  the  lower  and  selfish  elements  of  thought  and 
feeling  are  apt  to  preponderate.  And  therefore,  while  it 
is  always  a  matter  of  high  interest  to  ascertain  what  is  the 
verdict  of  public  opinion  on  a  given  question,  both  because 


VI II.]  Christ s  Service  and  Public  Opinion.  161 

it  represents  so  much,  and  because  it  can  do  so  much,  this 
verdict  will  never  be  received  by  Christians  as  an  absolute 
^uide  to  truth,  though  it  may  well  be  a  subject  for  respect- 
ful attention. 

The  same  conclusion  is  suggested  by  a  consideration  of 
he  vicissitudes  to  which  public  opinion  is  liable.    It  is 
iable  to  the  action  of  disturbing  causes,  which  betray  it, 
ipon  occasions,  into  wild  inconsistencies  with  itself.  The 
)anic  produced  by  an  unforeseen  catastrophe,  the  fascina- 
ion  exerted  by  a  brilliant  writer  or  speaker,  the  apparent 
coincidence  between  some  suspicion  entertained  by  a  long- 
cherished,  perhaps  unexamined  prejudice  and  some  trivial 
liscovery  or  occurrence ; — these  things  will  sometimes 
•ouse  into  desperate  energy  some  one  element  of  passion 
atent  in  the  vast  body  of  general  opinion,  so  that  it  breaks 
vith  all  that  has  hitherto  restrained  and  balanced  it,  and 
)recipitates  a  society  upon  some  course  of  conduct  alto- 
gether at  variance  with  its  better  antecedents.    And  this 
iability  of  powerful  sections  of  opinion  to  suffer  from  the 
listurbing  effects  of  panic,  must  needs  unfit  them  for  the 
luties  of  guides  in  matters  of  religious  and  moral  truth, 
n  truth,  common  opinion  is  too  wanting  in  patience,  in 
>enetration,  in  delicacy  of  moral  touch  and  apprehension, 
o  deal  successfully,  or  otherwise  than  blunderingly  and 
.oarsely,  with  questions  like  these.    It  cannot  be  right  to 

"Hosanna  !  "  now,  to-morrow  "Crucify  !  "  1 

}  applaud  in  Galilee  that  which  is  condemned  in  Jeru- 
ilem ;  to  sanction  in  this  generation  much  which  was 
enounced  in  that ;  to  "  adore  what  you  have  burned, 
ad  to  burn  what  you  have  adored,"  with  conspicuous 
srsatility ;  merely  because  a  large  body  of  human  beings 
-the  majority  of  whom,  it  may  be,  are  quite  without  par- 
cular  information  on  the  subject — love  to  have  it  so.  To 

1  The  Christian  Year,  Advent  Sunday. 


1 62  Christ 's  Service  and  Public  Opinion.  [Serm. 


attempt  to  please  men  in  this  sense  is  most  assuredly- 
incompatible  with  the  service  of  Christ. 

Whatever  evils  were  bound  up  with  the  old  order  of 
things  in  France,  every  generation  reads  with  fresh  interest 
the  tragic  story  of  the  fate  of  the  Monarchy ;  and  the 
unfortunate  king,  confined  with  his  family  in  the  prison 
of  the  Temple,  and  exposed  to  the  coarse  insults  of  his 
fanatical  enemies,  extorts  a  tribute  of  sympathy  and  of 
admiration  which  is  independent  of  any  political  convic- 
tions. But  with  that  group  of  high-born  sufferers  there  is 
another  figure  upon  whom,  as  it  seems  to  me,  a  Christian 
moralist  must  bestow  something  more  than  a  passing 
thought.  The  devoted  servant  who  had  waited  on  his 
sovereign  in  the  old  days  of  feudal  splendour,  found  his 
way,  at  the  risk  of  his  life,  to  the  tower  in  which  the  royal 
family  was  confined,  and  remained  to  the  end,  only 
narrowly  escaping  his  master's  fate.  He  has  left  us  a 
diary  of  three  weeks  of  suffering;  a  simple  unaffected 
narrative,  without  pretensions  to  literary  finish,  and  in  the 
pages  of  which  it  is  impossible  to  trace  any  thought  of 
winning  glory  for  himself.1  Yet,  as  we  follow  it,  we  find 
our  interest  divided  between  the  royal  prisoners  and  their 
faithful  attendant,  whose  conduct,  had  he  feared  or  courted 
the  opinion  of  Revolutionary  Paris,  would  never  have 
illustrated  so  persuasively,  because  so  undesignedly,  the 
moral  glory  of  a  generous  service.  For  some  of  us  it  ma} 
be  impossible  to  read  his  pages  without  a  sense  of  self 
reproach,  which  the  thought  of  a  Master  Who  has  non< 
of  the  weakness  of  Louis  XVI.,  and  Who  has  often  t< 
encounter  among  those  whom  He  would  save  a  mor 
enduring  and  implacable  hostility,  may,  alas !  too  wel 
suggest. 

1  Journal  de  ce  qui  s'est  passe  a  la  tour  du  Temple  pendant  la  captivil 
de  Louis  XVI.,  Roi  de  France.  Par  M.  Clery,  valet  de  chambre  du  ro 
A  Londres,  1798. 


VIII.]  Christ 's  Service  and  Public  Opinion.  163 


Doubtless  it  may  be  more  difficult  to  avoid  renunciation 
of  Christ's  service  when  importuned  by  intimate  and 
trusted  friends  than  when  pressed  by  a  strong  public 
opinion.    Those  whom  we  have  always  known,  and  with 
vvhom  we  wish  to  stand  well,  have  an  undoubted  title  to  in- 
luence  our  thoughts  and  conduct;  and  yet  it  is  possible  that 
hey  too  may  one  day  ask  us  to  sacrifice  our  sense  of  moral 
right  or  of  religious  truth  to  the  claims  of  party  or  to  the 
claims  of  friendship.    They  may  be  moving  into  regions  of 
conviction  where  we  cannot  follow  them;  or  they  may  refuse 
:o  accompany  us  when  our  sense  of  what  is  right  and  true 
)blisjes  us  to  sjo  forward.    And  then  there  is  an  inward 
■struggle,  or  perhaps  a  "  parting  of  friends,"  which  leaves 
leartaches  for  life,  but  which  is  inevitable  if  there  is  not 
0  be  a  violence  to  conscience.    To  men  of  affectionate 
empers  these  are  among  the  very  sternest  trials  in  our 
-vhole  probation :  to  prefer  the  friendship  of  truth  to  that 
)f  Plato  makes  a  greater  demand  on  a  generous  nature 
kan  any  choice  between  loyalty  to  duty  and  physical  pain. 
3ut  a  Christian  is  governed  by  a  revelation  of  truth  which 
iets  him  above  the  claims  of  friendship  and  the  exigencies 
)f  opinion ;  there  are  times  when  in  this  sense  too  "  he  that 
s  spiritual  judgeth  all  things,  yet  he  himself  is  judged  of 
10  man." 1    He  will  not,  indeed,  break  with  either  one  or  the 
•ther  lightly  or  wantonly  ;  he  will  look  once  and  again  to  be 
ure  that  he  is  not  himself  deceived,  if  not  in  his  principle, 
'et  in  its  application.    But  when  this  point  is  once  clear, 
ie  will  resolutely  go  forward.    There  is  no  improving  on 
he  old  adage,  "  Quodcunque  agis.  respice  finem."  Look 
0  the  end ;  look  onward  to  those  last  hours  of  sunlight 
•nd  of  responsibility,  when  life  will  be  sensibly  ebbing 
■way,  and  another  world  almost  breaking  upon  the  view, 
n  hours  such  as  those  men  live,  they  say,  quickly ;  a  life  is 
ompressed  into  minutes,  into  sentences.    The  mists  which 
1  1  Cor.  ii.  15. 


164     Christ 's  Service  and  Public  Opinion. 


had  hung  about  questions  of  duty  then  roll  away,  and, 
like  other  things,  public  opinion  is  stripped  of  any  fictitious 
value  which  may  once  have  clung  to  it,  and  is  resolved  into 
its  real  ingredients.  "  The  loftiness  of  man  shall  be  bowed 
down,  and  the  haughtiness  of  men  shall  be  made  low,  and 
the  Lord  alone  shall  be  exalted  in  that  day." 1  To  plant  our 
feet  upon  the  Bock ;  to  give  to  Him  Who  is  the  Eternal  and 
the  True  the  best  homage  of  heart  and  mind  and  purpose 
will  surely  be  the  effort — it  may  be  a  feeble  or  a  failing 
effort — of  a  time  like  that.  "  Quodcunque  agis,  respice 
finem."  Look  to  the  end;  and  resolve  to  make  the 
service  of  Christ  the  first  object  in  what  remains  of  life, 
without  indifference  to  the  opinion  of  your  fellow-meu,  but 
also  without  fear  of  it. 


1  Isa.  ii.  17. 


SERMON  IX. 


CHEIST  IN  THE  STORM. 
St.  Mark  iv.  38. 

And  He  was  in  the  hinder  part  of  the  ship,  asleep  on  a  pillow:  and  they 
awake  Him,  and  say  unto  Him,  Master,  carest  Thou  not  that  we  perish? 

THE  event  here  referred  to  must  have  occurred  in  the 
late  evening  of  the  day  on  which  our  Lord  pro- 
nounced the  series  of  Parables  of  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven.1 
The  multitudes  lingered  round  Him ;  and  He  determined 
to  cross  to  the  Peraean  side  of  the  Sea  of  Tiberias. 
The  passage  was  only  in  part  accomplished,  when  one 
of  these  sudden  and  dangerous  squalls  to  which  inland 
seas  in  mountainous  districts  are  exposed  swept  across 
the  waters.  The  ship  which  carried  our  Lord  and  His 
disciples  was  in  the  utmost  peril.  "  The  waves,"  says 
St.  Mark,  "  beat  into  the  ship,  so  that  it  was  now  full." 2 
It  was  not  the  excited  imagination  of  landsmen,  but  the 
3ommon  sense  of  hardy  and  experienced  fishermen,  which 
told  the  disciples  of  their  danger.  They  already  knew 
snough  of  their  Master's  power  to  seek  His  help;  but, 
while  they  were  expecting  instant  death,  He  "  was  in  the 
liinder  part  of  the  ship,  asleep  on  a  pillow."3  We  feel 
x  solemn  irony  in  this  contrast  between  the  majesty  of  His 
unruffled  repose,  and  the  wild  confusion,  alarm,  agony, 

1  St.  Matt.  xiii.  3.50.    St.  Mark  iv.  2-34.  2  St.  Mark  iv.  37. 

3  St.  Mark  iv.  38. 


1 66 


Christ  in  the  Storm. 


[Serm. 


which  prevailed  around  Him  ;  and  the  disciples  cannot 
have  felt  it  less  than  we.  But  if  they  gazed  at  Him  for  a 
moment  in  hesitating  wonder,  their  anguish  was  too  strong 
for  a  silent  reverence.  They  broke  in  upon  His  rest  with 
cries  of  terror ;  "  Master,  Master,  we  perish ;" 1  "  Lord,  save 
us :  we  perish ; " 2  even  with  the  half-reproachful  "  Master, 
carest  Thou  not  that  we  perish  ?"3  Then  He  arose  and 
"  rebuked "  the  winds  and  the  sea ;  as  if  to  imply  that 
disorder  in  the  material  world  may  sometimes  be  due  to 
the  malignant  will  of  a  personal  agent.  Yet  to  Him  the 
raging  waters  were  of  far  less  concern  than  the  state  of  the 
souls  around  Him ;  so  He  proceeded  to  notice  in  sterner 
terms  the  want  of  faith  in  Himself,  of  which  His  disciples 
had  just  given  proof.  "  Why  are  ye  so  fearful?  how  is  it 
that  ye  have  no  faith  ? " 1 

Undoubtedly  their  cry  of  agony  had  a  double  aspect. 
It  was,  on  the  one  hand,  an  act  of  faith  in  our  Lord's 
Power :  they  would  not  have  roused  Him,  at  least  in  such 
terms,  had  they  deemed  Him  as  resourceless  as  themselves. 
But,  on  the  other  hand,  their  appeal  to  Him  was  an  act 
of  impatience,  and  of  that  particular  kind  of  impatience 
which  implies  that  ordinary  grounds  of  confidence  are 
giving  way,  that  faith  is  dashed  by  some  serious  hesitations. 
To  have  trusted  Him  perfectly  would  have  been  to  have 
been  silent.  Silence  would  have  meant  a  conviction  that 
all  would  yet  be  well,  let  the  winds  roar  and  the  waves 
toss  as  they  might,  while  He,  the  Lord  of  the  waves  and 
the  winds,  slept  on  upon  a  pillow  in  the  hinder  part  of 
the  ship. 


It  is  natural  to  compare  this  miracle  with  others  which 
define  our  Lord's  relation  to  the  physical  universe,  and  to 


I. 


1  St.  Luke  viii.  24. 
3  St.  Mark  iv.  38. 


2  St.  Matt.  viii.  25. 
4  fc>t.  Mark  iv.  40. 


IX.]  Christ  in  the  Storm.  167 


examine  the  estimate  of  His  Person  which  such  a  relation 
necessarily  suggests.  But  there  is  another  line  of  thought 
which  we  may  follow  to-day.  Is  this  narrative  only  an 
appropriate  incident  in  a  Life  which  so  wonderfully  blends 
the  miraculous  and  the  moral  ?  Has  it  no  permanent  sig- 
nificance ?  no  wider  bearing  upon  the  history  of  Christen- 
dom ?  upon  the  vicissitudes  of  the  Church  ?  upon  the 
trials  of  the  soul  ? 

Now,  to  answer  this  question  as  it  would  have  been 
answered  by  all  the  exegetical  schools  of  ancient  Christen- 
dom ;  by  literalists  as  well  as  by  allegorizers  and  mystics ; 
by  Antioch  as  well  as  by  Alexandria ;  by  St.  Chrysostom 
and  Theodoret,  no  less  than  by  Basil,  Ambrose,  and  the 
Gregories,  is  to  incur,  on  the  very  threshold,  the  charge 
of  fancifulness.  In  this  application  of  an  event  of  our 
Lord's  life  to  the  subsequent  history  of  His  Kingdom  a 
particular  class  of  minds  can  see  nothing  but  the  levity  of 
an  untrained  imagination.  "Why,"  they  ask,  "  should  there 
be  any  discoverable  relation  whatever,  such  as  is  here 
presumed,  between  an  event  in  the  life  of  Christ,  and 
.events  which  can  only  bear  to  it  a  distant,  if  any,  analogy, 
in  the  Christian  history  of  after  ages  ?  No  one  has  per- 
ceived an  occult  reference  to  the  later  history  of  the 
Caesars,  in  the  conquest  of  Yercingetorix,  or  in  the  invasion 
of  Britain,  or  in  the  passage  of  the  Bubicon,  or  in  the 
first  triumvirate.  No  writers,  not  even  the  Platonic  and 
Stoic  allegorizers  of  the  Greek  mythology,  have  supposed 
the  vicissitudes  of  a  philosophical  school  to  be  anticipated, 
however  indistinctly,  in  this  or  that  incident  of  its  founder's 
life :  and  it  is  difficult  to  see  why  the  Author  of  Christianity 
should  be  held  to  stand  in  so  unique  a  relation  to  Christen- 
dom, which  thus  invests  the  incidents  of  His  earthly  career 
with  a  quasi-prophetical  character." 

There  is  a  valuable  warning  implied  in  this  objection. 
As  with  Origen,  so  in  some  modern  methods  of  interpreta- 


i68 


Christ  in  the  Stor?n. 


[Serm. 


tion,  the  reality  of  the  literal  narrative  may  be  denied  or 
forgotten  in  an  allegorizing  treatment.  And,  to  take 
instances  where  this  is  far  from  being  the  case,  no  one, 
probably,  would  now  indulge  in  the  exuberant  mysticism 
of  the  school  of  the  St.  Victors,  or  even,  pace  taniorum 
nominum,  of  some  greater  and  older  writers,  such  as  the 
author  of  the  Magna  Moralia  on  Job.  But  with  principles 
of  interpretation,  as  in  other  matters,  it  is  true  that  usum 
non  tollit  cibusus.  In  the  present  case  we  have  to  con- 
sider, first,  that  the  very  scene  was,  to  a  mind  trained 
in  the  school  of  the  Old  Testament,  full  of  moral  meaning. 
In  the  Hebrew  Scriptures,  as  in  the  apprehension  of  the 
early  Christian  Church,  nature  is  treated  as  a  sacrament 
of  the  moral  world ;  it  is  the  outward  sign  of  truths  which 
altogether  transcend  itself.  Its  various  moods  of  calm  and 
storm  answer  to  the  varying  movements  of  the  soul  or  to 
the  incidents  of  history.  Secondly,  to  an  Eastern  appre- 
hension our  Lord's  action  would  have  been,  naturally  and 
as  a  matter  of  course,  pregnant  with  significance.  To  the 
Eastern  mind  action  is  ever  eloquent ;  in  the  East  action 
is  language  in  a  degree  unknown  to  us  of  the  West.  The 
solemn  prophetical  actions  of  Isaiah,  Hosea,  and  others 
recognise  and  illustrate  the  Oriental  way  of  looking  at 
such  subjects;  and  our  Lord  addressed  Himself  to  it  in 
more  than  one  of  His  miracles,  by  gestures  which  were, 
we  may  venture  reverently  to  say,  unnecessary  to  the 
execution  of  His  purpose,  but  full  of  meaning  for  the 
lookers-on.  In  ancient  Palestine  the  acts  of  the  Prophet 
of  Nazareth  would  have  had,  and  would  have  been  designed 
to  carry,  a  meaning  beyond  themselves;  and  when  He 
rose  in  the  boat  to  rebuke  the  elements  on  the  Sea  of 
Galilee,  He  was  proclaiming  His  power  over  elements  of 
another  order  in  distant  scenes,  and  in  centuries  yet  to 
come. 

But,  undoubtedly,  the  question  whether  our  Lord's  act 


IX.] 


Christ  in  the  Storm. 


169 


has  this  kind  of  significance  will  be  chiefly  determined  by 
our  belief  about  His  Person.  If,  while  admiring  some 
moral  elements  in  His  teaching,  and  the  literature  which 
embodies  it,  we  yet  think  of  Him  as  only  one  of  the  race 
of  men  who  appeared  eighteen  centuries  ago,  and  who  has 
passed  away,  it  may  be,  into  a  world  of  conscious  shades, 
or  into  torpor,  or  into  annihilation ;  then,  indeed,  it  would 
be  absurd  to  endeavour  to  extract  from  this  narrative  any 
typical  relation  to  history.  We  do  not  suppose  that  John 
Howard  continues  from  his  place  in  the  eternal  world  to 
further,  by  some  energetic  pressure  or  interference,  that 
noble  work  of  benevolence  for  which  many  a  generation 
will  honour  and  bless  his  name ;  for  we  do  not  ascribe 
to  him  any  such  relation,  whether  towards  that  world  or 
this,  as  would  enable  him  to  mould  events  here  below. 
But  if,  looking  to  the  evidence  of  Christ's  Eesurrection 
from  the  dead,  to  the  general  effect  of  His  miracles,  to  the 
unique  outline  of  His  character,  to  the  attitude  which  He 
instinctively  assumed  in  dealing  with  others,  above  all  to 
His  constant  language  about  Himself,  we  cannot  but  form 
a  very  different  idea  about  His  present  relation  to  the 
world  from  that  which  we  assign  to  any  other  of  the  sons 
of  men ;  if  we  believe  that  His  announcement  of  a  day 
on  which  He  would  judge  the  world  was  warrantable,  that 
His  Promise  of  His  Presence  with  His  followers  to  the 
end  of  time  was  not  a  misleading  and  empty  consolation, 
and  that  this  Presence  was  to  be,  not,  as  Mahomet's  might 
have  been,  a  presence  in  memory,  but  an  actual  nearness  and 
encompassing  of  His  personal  Being,  whether  it  were  felt 
■by  His  Church  or  not :  if,  in  short,  we  believe  Him  to  be 
what  His  first  followers  believed,  the  Eternal  Son  of  God, 
Who  rules  men  and  events  with  an  arm  of  power ;  then 
it  is  not  any  wantonness  of  fancy  which  sees  in  His 
earthly  actions  the  models  and  presentiments  of  His  later 
providences.    If  we  truly  hold  that  He  is  now  what  He 


170 


Christ  in  the  Storm. 


[Serm. 


was  then ;  that  He  is  consistent  with  Himself  from  age 
to  age;  that  He  means  us  to  learn  from  what  we  read 
about  Him  then  something  of  that  which  He  is  actually 
now;  then  we  may  reverently  connect  the  incidents  of 
a  day  in  His  earthly  life  with  the  turning-points  of 
Christian  history,  and  the  fortunes  of  a  ship's  company 
with  that  of  a  divinely-organized  society,  and  deliver- 
ance from  physical  dangers  wTith  deliverance  from  evils 
which  may  assault  and  hurt  the  soul. 

II 

It  is,  then,  no  freak  of  fancy  to  see  in  this  narrative 
an  acted  parable,  if  you  will,  an  acted  prophecy.  Again 
and  again  the  Church  of  Christ  has  been  all  but  engulfed, 
as  men  might  have  deemed,  in  the  billows ;  again  and  again 
the  storm  has  been  calmed  by  the  Master,  Who  had  seemed 
for  awhile  to  sleep.  Often  has  Christianity  passed  through 
the  troubled  waters  of  political  opposition.  During  the 
first  three  centuries,  and  finally  under  Julian,  the  heathen 
state  made  repeated  and  desperate  attempts  to  suppress 
it  by  force.  Statesmen  and  philosophers  undertook  the 
task  of  eradicating  it,  not  passionately,  but  in  the  same 
temper  of  calm  resolution  with  which  they  would  have 
approached  any  other  well-considered  social  problem. 
More  than  once  they  drove  it  from  the  army,  from  the 
professions,  from  the  public  thoroughfares,  into  secrecy; 
they  pursued  it  into  the  vaults  beneath  the  palaces  of 
Rome,  into  the  catacombs,  into  the  deserts.  It  seemed 
as  if  the  faith  would  be  trodden  out  with  the  life  of  so 
many  of  the  faithful :  but  he  who  would  persecute  with 
effect  must  leave  none  alive.  The  Church  passed  through 
these  fearful  storms  into  the  calm  of  an  ascertained  supre- 
macy ;  but  she  had  scarcely  done  so,  when  the  vast  politi- 
cal and  social  system  which  had  so  long  oppressed  her,  and 


IX.] 


Christ  in  the  Storm. 


171 


which  by  her  persistent  suffering  she  had  at  length  made 
in  some  sense  her  own,  itself  began  to  break  up  beneath 
and  around  her.  The  barbarian  invasions  followed  one 
upon  another  with  merciless  rapidity ;  and  St.  Augustine's 
lamentations  upon  the  sack  of  Eome  express  the  feelings 
with  which  the  higher  minds  in  the  Church  must  have 
beheld  the  completed  humiliation  of  the  Empire.  Chris- 
tianity had  now  to  face,  not  merely  a  change  of  civil 
rulers,  but  a  fundamental  reconstruction  of  society.  It 
might  have  been  predicted  with  great  appearance  of 
probability  that  a  religious  system  which  had  suited  the 
enervated  provincials  of  the  decaying  Empire  would  never 
make  its  way  among  the  free  and  strong  races  that,  amid 
scenes  of  fire  and  blood,  were  laying  the  foundations  of 
feudalism.  In  the  event  it  was  otherwise.  The  hordes 
which  shattered  the  work  of  the  Caesars  learnt  to  repeat 
the  Catholic  Creed,  and  a  new  order  of  things  had  formed 
itself,  when  the  tempest  of  Mahommedanism  broke  upon 
Christendom.  Politically  speaking,  this  was  perhaps  the 
most  threatening  storm  through  which  the  Christian  Church 
has  passed.  There  was  a  time  when  the  soldiers  of  that 
stunted  and  immoral  caricature  of  the  Revelation  of  the 
One  True  God,  which  was  set  forth  by  the  false  prophet, 
had  already  expelled  the  very  Name  of  Christ  from  the 
country  of  Cyprian  and  Augustine;  they  were  masters 
of  the  Mediterranean ;  they  had  desolated  Spain,  were 
encamped  in  the  heart  of  Erance,  were  ravaging  the  sea- 
board of  Italy.  It  was  as  if  the  knell  of  Christendom  had 
sounded.  But  Christ,  "  if  asleep  on  a  pillow  in  the  hinder 
part  of  the  ship,"  was  not  insensible  to  the  terrors  of 
His  servants.  He  rose  to  rebuke  those  winds  and  waves, 
as  by  Charles  Martel  in  one  age,  and  by  Sobieski  in 
another;  it  is  now  more  than  two  centuries  since  Islam 
inspired  its  ancient  dread.  The  last  like  trial  of  the 
Church  was  the  first  French  Revolution.    In  that  vabt 


172 


Christ  in  the  Storm. 


[Serm. 


convulsion  Christianity  had  to  encounter  forces  which  for 
awhile  seemed  to  threaten  its  total  suppression.  Yet  the 
men  of  the  Terror  have  passed,  as  the  Csesars  had  passed 
before  them ;  and  like  the  Csesars,  they  have  only  proved 
to  the  world  that  the  Church  carries  within  her  One  Who 
rules  the  fierce  tempests  in  which  human  institutions  are 
wont  to  perish. 

Political  dangers,  however,  do  but  touch  the  Church  of 
Christ  outwardly ;  but  she  rests  upon  the  intelligent  assent 
of  her  children,  and  she  has  passed  again  and  again  through 
the  storms  of  intellectual  opposition  or  revolt.  Scarcely 
had  she  steered  forth  from  the  comparatively  still  waters 
of  Galilean  and  Hellenistic  devotion  than  she  had  to 
encounter  the  pitiless  dialectic,  the  subtle  solvents,  of  the 
Alexandrian  philosophy.  It  was  as  if  in  anticipation  of 
this  danger  that  St.  John  had  already  baptized  the  Alex- 
andrian modification  of  the  Platonic  Logos,  moulding  it  so 
as  to  express  the  sublimest  and  most  central  truth  of  the 
Christian  Creed;  while,  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews, 
Alexandrian  methods  of  interpretation  had  been  adopted 
in  vindication  of  the  Gospel.  But  to  many  a  timid  be- 
liever it  may  well  have  seemed  that  Alexandrianism  would 
prove  the  grave  of  Christianity,  when,  combining  the 
Platonic  dialectics  with  an  Eclectic  Philosophy,  it  en- 
deavoured in  the  form  of  Arianism  to  break  up  the  Unity 
of  the  Godhead  by  making  Christ  a  separate  and  inferior 
Deity.  There  was  a  day  when  Arianism  seemed  to  he 
triumphant ;  but  even  Arianism  was  a  less  formidable 
foe  than  the  subtle  strain  of  infidel  speculation  which 
penetrated  the  Christian  intellect  in  the  very  heart  of  the 
Middle  Ages,  that  is  to  say,  at  a  time  when  the  sense 
of  the  supernatural  had  difi  used  itself  throughout  the  whole 
atmosphere  of  human  thought.  This  unbelief  was  the 
product  sometimes  of  a  rude  sensuality  rebelling  against 
the  precepts  of  the  Gospel;  sometimes  of  the  culture 


IX.] 


Christ  in  the  Storm. 


173 


iivorced  from  faith  which  made  its  appearance  in  the 
twelfth  century  ;  sometimes,  specifically,  of  the  influence  of 
riie  Arabian  philosophy  from  Spain  ;  sometimes  of  the  vast 
md  penetrating  activity  of  the  Jewish  teachers.  It  revealed 
itself  constantly  under  the  most  unexpected  circumstances. 
We  need  not  suppose  that  the  great  Order  of  the  Templars 
was  guilty  of  the  infidelity  that,  along  with  crimes  of  the 
gravest  character,  was  laid  to  their  charge  ;  a  study  of  their 
processes  is  their  best  acquittal,  while  it  is  the  condemnation 
di  their  persecutors.  But  unbelief  must  have  been  wide- 
spread in  days  when  a  prominent  soldier,  John  of  Soissons, 
could  declare  that  "all  that  was  preached  concerning  Christ's 
Passion  and  Eesurrection  was  a  mere  farce  ;"x  when  a  pious 
Bishop  of  Paris  left  it  on  record  that  he  "  died  believing 
in  the  Eesurrection,  with  the  hope  that  some  of  his  edu- 
cated but  sceptical  friends  would  reconsider  their  doubts ;" 2 
when  that  keen  observer,  as  Xeander  terms  him,  Hugh  of 
St.  Victor,  remarks  the  existence  of  a  large  class  of  men 
whose  faith  consisted  in  nothing  else  than  merelv  taking 
care  not  to  contradict  the  faith — "  quibus  credere  est  solum 
fidei  non  contradicere,  qui  consuetudine  vivendi  magis, 
quani  virtute  credendi  fideles  nominantur." 3  The  pre- 
valence of  such  unbelief  is  attested  at  once  by  the  funda- 
mental nature  of  many  of  the  questions  discussed  at 
the  greatest  length  by  the  Schoolmen,  and  by  the  uncon- 
cealed anxieties  of  the  great  spiritual  leaders  of  the 
time.4  After  the  Middle  Ages  came  the  Eenaissance.  This 
is  not  the  time  or  place  to  deny  the  services  which  the 
Renaissance  has  rendered  to  the  cause  of  human  education, 

1  So  Guib.  Abb.  De  Vita  sua,  iii.  15,  quoted  by  Neander,  Ch.  Hist,  v 
p.  451. 

2  In  1 198  ;  cf.  Rigord,  de  gestis  Philippi,  quoted  by  Neander,  ub.  sup.  p.  432. 

3  De  Sacr.  fidei,  lib.  i.  c.  4,  quoted  by  Neander,  p.  454. 

4  The  Abbot  Peter  of  Cluny  composed  a  tract  to  prove  that  Christ  bore 
witness  to  His  own  divinity,  in  order  to  meet  the  doubts  of  some  of  his 
monks. 


174 


Christ  in  the  Storm. 


[Serm. 


and  indirectly,  it  may  be,  to  that  of  Christianity.  But 
the  Kenaissance  was  at  first,  as  it  appeared  in  Italy,  a  pure 
enthusiasm  for  Paganism,  for  Pagan  thought,  as  well  as  for 
Pagan  art  and  Pagan  literature.  And  the  Eeformation, 
viewed  on  its  positive  and  devotional  side,  was,  at  least 
in  the  South  of  Europe,  a  reaction  against  the  spirit  of  the 
Renaissance :  it  was  the  Paganism,  even  more  than  the 
indulgences  of  Leo  X.,  which  alienated  the  Germans. 
The  reaction  against  this  Paganism  was  not  less  vigorous 
within  the  Church  of  Borne  than  without  it;  Ranke  has  told 
u  s  the  story  of  its  disappearance. 1  Lastly,  there  was  the  rise 
of  Deism  in  England,  and  of  the  Encyclopedist  School  in 
France,  followed  by  the  pure  Atheism  which  preceded  the 
Revolution.  It  might  well  have  seemed  to  fearful  men 
of  that  day  that  Christ  was  indeed  asleep  to  wake  no 
more,  that  the  surging  waters  of  an  infidel  philosophy  had 
well-nigh  filled  the  ship,  and  that  the  Church  had  only  to 
sink  with  dignity. 

Worse  than  the  storms  of  political  violence  or  of  intel- 
lectual rebellion,  have  been  the  tempests  of  insurgent 
immorality  through  which  the  Church  has  passed.  In  the 
ages  of  persecution  there"  was  less  risk  of  this,  although 
even  then  there  were  scandals.  The  Epistles  to  the  Corin- 
thians reveal  beneath  the  very  eyes  of  the  Apostle  a 
state  of  moral  corruption,  which,  in  one  respect  at  least,  he 
himself  tells  us,  had  fallen  below  the  pagan  standard."2 
But  when  entire  populations  pressed  within  the  fold,  and 
social  or  political  motives  for  conformity  took  the  place  of 
serious  and  strong  conviction  in  the  minds  of  multitudes, 
these  dangers  became  formidable.  What  must  have  been 
the  agony  of  devout  Christians  in  the  tenth  century,  when 
appointments  to  the  Roman  Chair  itself  were  in  the  hands  of 
three  unprincipled  and  licentious  women  ; 3  and  when  the 

1  Hist,  of  Popes,  vol.  i.  2  I  Cor.  v.  i.    2  Cor.  vii.  8-1 1. 

3  Mohler,  Kirchcngeschichtc,  ii.  p.  183. 


IX.]  Christ  in  the  Storm.  175 

ife  of  the  first  Christian  Bishop  was  accounted  such  that 
1  pilgrimage  to  Eome  involved  a  loss  of  character.  Well 
night  the  austere  Bruno  exclaim  of  that  age  that  "  Simon 
Magus  lorded  it  over  a  Church  in  which  bishops  and 
priests  were  given  to  luxury  and  fornication :"  well  might 
Cardinal  Baronius  suspend  the  generally  laudatory  or 
ipologetic  tone  of  his  Annals,  to  observe  that  Christ  must 
have  in  this  age  been  asleep  in  the  ship  of  the  Church  to 
permit  such  enormities.1 

It  was  a  dark  time  in  the  moral  life  of  Christendom : 
but  there  have  been  dark  times  since.  Such  was  that 
when  St.  Bernard  could  allow  himself  to  describe  the 
Roman  Curia  as  he  does  in  addressing  Pope  Eugenius  III. ; 
such  again  was  the  epoch  which  provoked  the  work  of 
Xicholas  de  Cleargis,  "  On  the  Buin  of  the  Church."  The 
passions,  the  ambitions,  the  worldly  and  political  interests 
which  surged  around  the  Papal  Throne,  had  at  length 
issued  in  the  schism  of  Avignon ;  and  the  writer  passion- 
ately exclaims  that  the  Church  had  fallen  proportionately 
to  her  corruptions,  which  he  enumerates  with  an  unspar- 
ing precision.2  During  the  century  which  preceded  the 
Pieformation,  the  state  of  clerical  discipline  in  London  was 

1  Mbhler  has  endeavoured,  but  not  very  convincingly,  to  minimize  the 
stern  judgment  of  Baronius.—  K.  G.  ii.  pp.  186-191. 

2  To  this  may  be  added  the  remarkable  report  on  abuses  in  the  Roman 
Church  which  was  drawn  up  and  published  by  order  of  Pope  Paul  III.  ; 
Consilium  delectorum  CardinaHum  et  aliorum  Praelatorum  de  emendanda 
ecclesia,  S.D.X.D.  Paulo  III.  ipso  jubente  conscriptum  et  exhibitum,  1 537. 
Among  the  nine  signataries  are  Cardinals  Pole,  Contarini,  and  Caraffa. 
They  trace  the  evils  of  the  Church  to  the  fact  "quod  nonnuUi  Pontifices 
tui  prsedecessores  prurientes  auribus,  ut  inquit  Apostolus  Paulus,  coacervave- 
runt  sibi  magistros  ad  desideria  sua,  non  ut  ab  eis  discerent  quod  facere 
deberent,  sed  ut  eorum  studio  et  caUiditate  inveniretur  ratio  qua  liceret  id 
quod  liberet."  Presently  they  add,  "Ex  hoc  fonte,  Sancte  Pater,  tanquam 
ex  equo  Trojano,  irrupere  in  Ecclesiam  Dei  tot  abusus  et  tarn  gravissimi 
morbi,  quibus  nunc  conspicimus  earn  ad  desperationem  fere  salutis  laborasfe, 
vel  manasse  harum  rerum  famam  ad  infideles  usque." 


176 


Christ  in  the  Storm. 


[Serm. 


such  as  to  explain  the  vehemence  of  popular  reaction; 
and  if  in  the  last  century  there  was  an  absence  of  gross- 
ness,  such  as  had  prevailed  in  previous  ages,  there  was 
a  greater  absence  of  spirituality.  Says  Bishop  Butler, 
charging  the  clergy  of  the  Diocese  of  Durham  in  175 1 — 
"As  different  ages  have  been  distinguished  by  different 
sorts  of  particular  errors  and  vices,  the  deplorable  distinction 
of  ours  is  an  avowed  scorn  of  religion  in  some,  and  a 
growing  disregard  to  it  in  the  generality."1  That  dis- 
regard, being  in  its  essence  moral,  would  hardly  have  been 
arrested  by  the  cultivated  reasoners,  who  were  obliged  to 
content  themselves  with  deistic  premises  in  their  defences 
of  Christianity :  it  did  yield  to  the  fervid  appeals  of  Whit- 
field and  of  Wesley.  With  an  imperfect  idea  of  the  real 
contents  and  genius  of  the  Christian  Creed,  and  with 
almost  no  idea  at  all  of  its  majestic  relations  to  history 
and  to  thought,  these  men  struck  a  chord  for  which  we 
may  well  be  grateful.  They  awoke  Christ,  sleeping  in  the 
conscience  of  England ;  they  were  the  real  harbingers  of  a 
day  brighter  than  their  own. 

For  if  the  question  be  asked,  how  the  Church  of  Christ  has 
surmounted  these  successive  dangers,  the  answer  is,  by  the 
appeal  of  prayer.  She  has  cried  to  her  Master,  Who  is  ever 
in  the  ship,  though,  as  it  may  seem,  asleep  upon  a  pillow. 
The  appeal  has  often  been  made  impatiently,  even  violently, 
as  on  the  waves  of  Gennesaret,  but  it  has  not  been  made  in 
vain.  It  has  not  been  by  policy,  or  good  sense,  or  con- 
siderations of  worldly  prudence,  but  by  a  renewal  in  very 
various  ways  of  the  first  fresh  Christian  enthusiasm  which 
flows  from  the  felt  presence  of  Christ,  that  political  enemies 
have  been  baffled,  and  intellectual  difficulties  reduced  to 
their  true  dimensions,  and  moral  sores  extirpated  or  healed. 
Christianity  does  thus  contain  within  itself  the  secret  of 
its  perpetual  youth,  the  certificate  of  its  indestructible 

1  Works,  vol.  ii.  p.  312. 


IX.]  Christ  in  the  Storm.  177 


vitality ;  because  it  centres  in,  it  is  inseparable  from,  devo- 
tion to  a  living  Person.    No  ideal  lacking  a  counterpart 
in  fact  could  have  guided  the  Church  across  the  cen- 
turies. Imagination  may  do  much  in  quiet  and  prosperous 
:imes ;  but  amid  the  storms  of  hostile  prejudice  and  passion, 
in  presence  of  political  vicissitudes  or  of  intellectual  on- 
slaughts, or  of  moral  rebellion  or  decay,  an  unreal  Saviour 
mist  be  found  out.  •  A  Christ  upon  paper,  though  it  were 
he  sacred  pages  of  the  Gospel,  would  have  been  as  power- 
ess  to  save  Christendom  as  a  Christ  in  fresco;  not  less 
eeble  than  the  Countenance  which,  in  the  last  stages  of 
ts  decay,  may  be  traced  on  the  wall  of  the  Eefectory  at 
Vlilan.     A  living  Christ  is  the  key  to  the  phenomenon 
if  Christian  history.   To  Him  again  and  again  His  Church 
las  cried  out  in  her  bewilderment  and  pain,  "  Up,  Lord, 
rhy  sleepest  Thou  ?  awake,  and  be  not  absent  from  us  for 
ver." 1    And  again  and  again,  in  the  great  thoroughfares 
f  Christian  history,  He,  her  Lord,  to  borrow  the  startling 
mage  of  the  Hebrew  poet,  has  "  awaked  as  one  out 
f  sleep,  and  like  a  giant  refreshed  with  wine," 2  to  display 
limself  in  providential  turns,  whether  in  the  world 
f  events  or  in  the  world  of  thought,  on  which  no  human 
)resight  could  have  calculated.    And  what  has  been 
"ill  yet  be  again.     There  are  men  who  can  say  to  Him 
nly,  "Thou,  0  Christ,  art  the  most  exquisite  work  of 
hastened  imagination,  of  purified  moral  sense,  that  our 
ice  has  known:  in  that  Thou  art  our  highest  ideal  of 
uman  goodness,  Thou  art  truly  Divine ;  we  cannot  rival, 
e  cannot  even  approach,  we  cannot,  if  we  would,  forget 
hee."    But  if  this  were  the  highest  language  towards 
-im  that  is  honestly  possible,  whatever  else  He  might 
3,  He  would  not  be  "  our  hope  and  strength,  a  very 
resent  help  in  trouble."3    He  would  only  be  precious  as  a 
3em  or  a  piece  of  sculpture  is  precious ;  just  as  beautiful 

1  Ps.  xliv.  23.  2  Ps  ixxviii.  66.  3  Ps.  xlvi.  i. 

M 


178 


Christ  in  the  Storm. 


[Serm, 


perhaps,  but  just  as  helpless  an  object,  rendered  into  the 
finer  forms  of  the  world  of  thought.  But  we  Christians 
have  cried  to  Him  in  one  form  of  words  or  another  foi 
many  a  century — "Thou  sittest  at  the  Eight  Hand  oj 
God,  in  the  Glory  of  the  Father.  We  believe  that  Thor 
shalt  come  to  be  our  Judge.  We  therefore  pray  Thee,  heir 
Thy  servants,  Whom  Thou  hast  redeemed  with  Thy  precious 
Blood."  And  in  His  being  what  this  language  implies  lies 
the  recuperative  power  of  the  Church;  it  lies  in  faith's 
grasp  of  the  fact  that  Christ  really  lives  and  rules  in  earth 
and  heaven,  and  that  He  may  still  be  appealed  to  with 
success,  even  though  men  dare  to  exclaim,  "  Master,  carest 
Thou  not  that  we  perish  ? " 

III. 

This  power  of  resistance   and  recovery  inherent  ic 
Christianity  may  be  looked  at  from  another  side ;  that  oi 
the  profound  impression  it  has  made  on  the  soul  of  man, 
The  Christian  Creed  has  brought  all  the  activities  of  which 
the  human  soul  is  capable  into  active  exercise.    It  liae 
been  charged  against  our  Divine  Bedeemer  that  He  has  sc 
exhausted  the  religious'  instincts  and  energies  of  man  a.< 
to  make  it  impossible  to  establish  at  all  permanently  am 
generally,  in  lands  and  among  populations  which  hav< 
owned  His  sway,  any  tentative  religion  of  the  future,  sue! 
for  instance,  as  a  philosophical  Deism.   We  may  admit  th 
charge  ;  indeed  we  ought  not  to  be  surprised  at  it.    For  i: 
truth  Christ  has  so  taught  His  people  to  explore  the  height 
and  depths  of  the  spiritual  world,  the  resources  and  cap? 
cities  of  the  soul,  its  treasures  of  feeling  and  passion,  ii 
powers  of  resolution,  as  well  as  its  subtlety  and  strengt 
of  thought,  that  after  Him  all  else  must  needs  pall  and  I 
uninteresting.   Men  do  not  voluntarily  recede  from  the  sui 
shine  to  the  twilight;  from  civilization  to  semi-barbarisri 


IX. J  Christ  in  the  Storm.  i  79 


rom  the  advanced  prosecution  of  a  science  to  the  study 
)f  its  elementary  truths.  And  it  is  because  Christianity 
cannot  be  superseded  by  any  strong  positive  religion  on  its 
)wn  ground,  except  indeed  through  the  extermination  of 
Christians,  that  the  Christian  faith  is  constantly  renewing 
tself.  The  religious  sense,  roused  from  a  temporary  torpor, 
noves  again  along  the  lines  of  the  Christian  Creed :  and 
religious  thought  makes  the  grand  tour  of  comparative 
heology,  to  discover  that  the  extremest  limits  of  ex- 
perience and  speculation  have  been  already  anticipated  by 
he  Creed  which  was  learnt  in  childhood. 

Surely,  brethren,  some  of  ourselves  must  know  some- 
king  of  this  power  of  recovery  of  Christian  faith  and 
ife.  of  this  practical  inaccessibility  to  danger  which  is 
uaranteed  by  the  Presence  of  Christ.  Have  not  we,  too, 
ad  our  days  of  darkness ;  our  days  of  outward  trial ;  our 
avs  of  conscious  weakness,  of  inward  misgiving  and  fear  ? 
lave  not  we,  too,  known  what  it  is  to  have  doubts 
ushed,  and  dangers  averted,  and  temptations  overcome, 
p  the  rising,  as  if  from  sleep,  of  that  most  sacred  Presence, 
hich  is  enshrined  in  every  Christian  soul,  to  rebuke,  or  to 
icourage,  or  to  protect  ?  Our  inward  heaven,  it  may  be, 
,as  so  overcast  that  we  could  not  see  Him — 

"When  looks  were  strange  on  every  side, 
"When,  gazing  round,  I  only  saw 
Far-reaching  ways  on  every  side, 

I  could  but  nearer  draw. 
I  could  but  nearer  draw,  and  hold 
Thy  garment's  border  as  I  might." 

it  that  was  enough.  When  the  time  came  He  spoke 
iid  the  trial  passed.  And  there  is  a  correspondence 
tween  the  larger  organism  and  its  component  particles, 
tween  the  Church  and  the  soul ;  what  passes  within  the 
ul  is  an  interpretation  to  those  who  have  felt  it  of  much 
•at  belongs  to  the  history  of  the  Church.   "  Through  Thy 


i8o 


Christ  in  the  Storm.  [Serm 


commandments,"  each  may  say,  "  I  get  understanding,"  nol 
merely  of  the  preciousness  of  moral  truth,  but  of  th( 
philosophy  of  sacred  history. 

The  subject  suggests,  among  others,  two  reflections  ir 
particular. 

And,  first,  it  is  a  duty  to  be  on  our  guard  againsl 
panics.    Panics  are  the  last  infirmity  of  believing  souls 
It  is  of  course  easy  to  denounce  them  from  the  stand- 
point of  a  philosophical  unconcern  as  to  all  religious  in- 
terests ;  calmness  is  a  cheap  virtue  when  you  have,  01 
when  you  suppose  yourself  to  have  nothing  really  at  stake, 
It  is  not,  in  this  sense,  that  panics  are  to  be  deprecated ; 
the  most  irrational  panic  of  an  unlettered  peasant  who 
believes  that  his  creed  is  imperilled,  is,  beyond  all  com- 
parison, a  nobler  thing  than  the  tranquil  indifference  of  a 
Talleyrand.    But  panics  are  to  be  deprecated,  not  because 
they  imply  a  keen  interest  in  the  fortunes  of  religion 
but  because  they  betray  a  certain  distrust  of  the  powei 
and  living  Presence  of  our  Lord.    Granted  that  materi 
alism  rears  its  crest  more  boldly  than  of  yore;  that  i 
section  of  modern  democracy  threatens  to  break  up  al 
public  institutions  that  assert  the  supernatural ;  that  on 
branch  of  the  Church  of  Christ  has  added  to  existin 
difficulties  by  burdening  its  official  Creed,  for  the  whilt 
with  an  unhistorical  absurdity ;  that  our  English  Churc 
is  embarrassed  and  enfeebled  by  misbelief  and  division 
Yet  it  does  not  follow  that  the  life  of  particular  Churcht 
is  imperilled,  much  less   that  Christianity  is  doomei 
Science  may  for  the  moment  be  hostile ;  in  the  long  ru 
it  cannot  but  befriend  us.    We  may  have  to  surrend< 
misapprehensions  or  to  make  explanations  along  the  fronti 
where  the  Faith  touches  on  the  province  of  physics :  sciew 
will  help  us,  if  she  forces  us  to  surrender  the  untenabl 


[X.]  Christ  in  the  Storm.  181 

Criticism  may  have  done  us  an  ill  turn  in  unkindly  or 
inskilful  hands ;  but  it  has  more  weapons  to  place  at  the 
lisposal  of  the  Faith  than  opportunities  of  wounding  it. 
Popular  agitators  may  mean  mischief;  but  we  should  do 
11  to  fear  the  people  whose  best  interests  are  our  own. 
[he  Church  of  this  country  has  everything  to  gain  by 
hrowing  herself  on  the  classes  to  which  the  Gospel  was 
ireached  at  first;  for  the  Church  is  the  real  mistress 
if  that  social  science  which  either  makes  want  and 
uffering  more  than  endurable,  or  which  relieves  and 
ssuages  it.  An  ecclesiastical  absolutism  may  rule  abroad ; 
.  sour  fanaticism  may  endeavour  to  proscribe  faith  and 
everence  nearer  home;  but  the  eccentricities  of  human 
rror  pass  and  are  forgotten,  while  Christianity  remains, 
t  remains  in  that  breadth  of  compass,  in  that  common 
ubstance  of  absolute  Truth,  in  that  unconquerable  strength 
•  hich  resists  not  merely  attacks  from  without,  but  grave 
orruptions  and  usurpations  within;  the  waves  do  not  merely 
ish  the  ship,  they  wellnigh  fill  it ;  yet  it  does  not  sink, 
t  does  not  sink,  because  He  is  with  it,  Who  has  spoken  as 
one  other  has  spoken  to  the  human  soul ;  Who  has  opened 
)  man  the  Eternal  World,  and  revealed  to  man  his  own 
oundless  capacities  for  bliss  or  for  woe.  It  was  accounted 
jmething  in  days  of  old  to  carry  Caesar.    And  He  Who 

with  us  in  the  storm  is  most  assuredly  beyond  the 
;ach  of  harm :  to  be  panic-stricken  is  to  dishonour  Him. 
rethren,  let  us  beware  of  panics.  Panics  are  the  work 
;  timid  men,  and  they  make  men  timid.  And  if  a  man 
is  power,  timidity  will  make  him  cruel ;  if  he  is  impotent, 

will  make  him  foolish. 

A  second  reflection  is  this :  a  time  of  trouble  and  danger 
'  the  natural  season  for  generous  devotion.  They  say  that 
mug  men  who  in  quiet  days,  when  there  was  little  work 
id  no  controversy,  and  no  peril  to  position  and  endow- 
ents,  would  have  taken  Holy  Orders,  are  not  ordained 


182 


Christ  in  the  Storm. 


now.  It  may  be  so.  If  it  be,  the  Church  is  not  the 
weaker  for  the  loss  of  those  who  would  seek  her  ministry, 
not  for  her  Lord's  sake,  but  for  their  own.  To  generous 
minds  a  time  of  trouble  has  its  own  attractions.  It 
enables  a  man  to  hope,  with  less  risk  of  presumption,  that 
his  motives  are  sincere;  it  fortifies  courage;  it  suggests 
self- distrust ;  it  enriches  character;  it  invigorates  faith. 
The  storm  may  rage  without,  the  flood  may  rise  within, 
but  while  the  Lord  of  the  soul  and  of  the  Church  is  here, 
though  it  be  "  asleep  in  the  hinder  part  of  the  ship,"  all 
must  in  the  end  be  well.  Things  would  not  have  been 
better  than  they  are  for  martyrs  and  confessors,  if,  in 
their  day,  the  sea  had  been  calm  and  the  waves  unruffled. 
For  them,  long  since,  the  winds  and  waves  of  life  have 
been  stilled,  and  Christ  has  brought  them  to  the  haven 
where  they  would  be.  "  Sit  anima  nostra  cum  Sanctis : " 
with  them,  if  He  wills,  in  the  fellowship  of  their  sorrows; 
with  them,  through  His  Mercy,  as  sharers  of  their  everlast- 
ing rest ! 


SERMON  X. 


SACERDOTALISM. 
2  Cor.  v.  i  8. 

But  all  things  are  of  God,  TT7io  hath  reconciled  us  unto  Himself,  through 
Jesus  Christ,  and  hath  given  unto  us  the  ministry  of  The  Reconciliation  : 
to  wit,  that  God  was  in  Christ,  reconciling  the  world  unto  Himself,  not 
imputing  their  trespasses  unto  them;  and  hath  given  unto  us  the  word  of 
The  Reconciliation. 

THE  First  Lesson  for  this  morning's  Service1  describes  an 
event  which  is  presupposed  by  these  words  of  the 
Apostle.  The  doctrine  or  fact  of  the  Fall  of  Man  is  the 
vey  to  the  Christian  estimate  of  hnman  nature.  Instead 
)f  looking  upon  man  as  a  creature  who,  in  the  course 
)f  a  long  series  of  ages,  has  struggled  upwards  out  of  some 
ower  form  of  animal  existence,  by  a  continually  ascend- 
ng  progress,  until  he  has  reached  his  present  attainments 
n  conduct,  thought,  and  civilization,  the  Gospel  teaches 
-hat  man  once  was  in  possession  of  capacities  and  glories 
vhich  have  left  their  traces  upon  his  life,  but  which,  while 
ie  remains  in  Ins  natural  state,  are  no  longer  his.  At 
he  present  day  these  two  conceptions  of  man's  early  his- 
ory  divide  the  world  of  thought  between  them ;  and  the 
Apostle's  expression  in  the  text — to  cite  no  other  passages 
rom  his  writings — shows  which  side  he  would  take  in  the 
controversy,  if  he  were  to  appear  among  us. 

1  Sexagesima  Sunday,  Gen.  iii. 


184  Sacerdotalism,  [Serm. 


L 

Eeconciliation,  the  exchange1  of  enmity  for  friendship, 
points  by  implication  to  a  friendship  which  had  once 
existed,  and  had  been  subsequently  lost.  Man,  St.  Paul 
maintains,  at  the  earliest  period  of  his  history  was  on  good 
terms  with  his  Creator.  No  disturbing  influence  was  there 
to  mar  the  harmony  of  created  and  uncreated  life,  in  their 
mutual  relations  of  sovereignty  and  dependence.  But  the 
Apostle  insists  that  there  has  been  a  break  of  moral  con- 
tinuity, which  we  read  in  man's  present  inward  ruin  and 
disorder,  and  the  work  of  which  is  only  repaired  by  Christ. 
"  By  one  man  sin  entered  into  the  world." 2 

If  the  question  be  asked,  what  are  the  evidences  of  the 
Fall  ?  the  reply  is  not  far  to  seek.  We  trace  it  in  those  many 
precautions  which  are  taken  by  human  society  for  its  self- 
defence,  and  which  imply  that  man's  nature  has  something 
of  the  wild  beast  in  it,  so  that  it  must  be  watched  and  held 
down,  if  it  is  not  to  do  man  himself  a  mischief.  Then  there 
is  the  cynical  estimate  of  human  motives  and  character 
which  is  almost  a  matter  of  course  in  literature,  whether 
of  ancient  or  modern  times,  although  such  cynicism  in  many 
instances  is  guilty  of  extreme  injustice.  But,  not  to  dwell 
on  these  less  direct  indications,  the  Fall  has  left  its  mark 
partly  on  man's  understanding,  and  partly  on  his  will. 

Deep  in  man's  natural  intelligence  is  the  idea  of  God ; 
an  idea  which  is  the  product  of  man's  survey  of  nature,  ac- 
companied by  his  introspection  of  conscience.  The  Author 
of  Nature  identifies  Himself  with  the  Legislator  of  Con- 
science in  the  inmost  recesses  of  the  soul  of  man ;  and  yet 
man,  while  he  is  yet  unrestored  by  Christ,  is  positively 
impatient  of  this  truth,  from  which  he  can  never  perfectly 
escape.    Thus  man  is  constantly  endeavouring  to  account 

1  KaraWayri,  Rom.  v.  1 1.  2  Rom.  v.  12. 


X.] 


Sacerdotalism. 


185 


:or  nature  without  attributing  it  to  an  Author,  and  to 
iccount  for  conscience  as  a  mere  conglomerate  of  antique 
prejudices.  These  efforts,  although  incessant,  have  no 
permanently  widespread  result.  Apart  from  the  teaching 
md  influence  of  Revelation,  the  thought  of  God  is  too 
ntimately  bound  up  with  the  highest  and  deepest  life  even 
)f  fallen  human  beings,  to  be  really  set  aside  by  any 
lestructive  eccentricities,  whether  of  physical  science  or  of 
nental  philosophy.  It  resists  the  solvents  which  are  so 
constantly  applied  to  it ;  it  tenants  the  human  soul,  if 
seriously  impaired,  yet  never  altogether  obliterated ;  for 
t  is  the  shadow  and  the  representative  of  One  "Who,  as 
.ve  know,  sits  high  above  the  water-flood  of  human  passion 
md  human  thought,  in  the  unassailable  majesty  of  His 
self-existent  Life.  And  yet,  when  man  cannot  escape 
:rom  God,  he  shrinks  from  Him.  He  can  attach  himself 
^asily  to  any  created  form ;  to  a  flower,  to  a  prospect,  to 
an  animal,  to  any  concrete  representation  of  beauty  or  of 
?orce.  But  God,  the  source  of  all  beauty,  the  concentra- 
:ion  of  all  force,  is,  it  seems,  a  Being  from  Whom  man  would 
:ain  conceal  himself.  There  is  something  in  man's  own 
nature  which  whispers  to  him  that  between  himself  and  God 
:here  is  a  lack  of  harmony  :  being  such  as  he  is,  he  would 
rather  keep  out  of  God's  way,  if  it  be  possible  to  do  so ;  he 
lears  the  voice  of  the  Lord  God  walking  in  the  oarden  in 
:he  cool  of  the  day  of  life,  and  he  forthwith  seeks  to  hide 
limself  as  of  old  from  the  presence  of  the  Lord  God  among 
:he  trees  of  the  garden.1 

Nor  is  it  otherwise  with  man's  moral  nature.  Man  is  born 
nto  the  world  with  the  idea  of  right  and  wrong.  There  it 
is;  so  deep  in  his  soul,  that  when  wellnigh  all  else  has 
been  destroyed,  this  remains.  There  may  be  disputes,  in 
different  ages  and  countries,  as  to  what  is  right  and  what 
is  wrong.    But  the  belief  that  there  is  a  right,  and  that  there 

1  Gen.  iii.  8. 


i86 


Sacerdotalism. 


[Serm. 


is  a  wrong,  is  as  wide  and  as  old  as  the  race  of  man,  and 
the  broad  lines  which  mark  off  right  from  wrong  in  detail 
are  almost  universally  recognised.  And  yet,  in  presence  of 
this  great  conviction,  what  is  the  average  bearing,  the  his- 
torical conduct,  of  the  human  will  ?  On  the  one  side,  it 
displays  a  marked  incapacity  for  virtue.  The  difficulty  of 
virtue,  that  is,  of  living  according  to  the  rule  of  right,  the 
true  rule  of  human  life,  is  a  well-worn  topic  with  heathen 
moralists.  Virtue  is  an  effort  of  strength;  the  very  word  im- 
plies as  much.  It  is  not  the  easy  spontaneous  product  of  our 
nature.  It  is  the  force  which  we  exert  when  we  are  at  our 
best.  On  the  other  hand,  vice,  condemned  by  the  human 
conscience,  needs  no  effort  whatever  in  order  to  produce  it. 
It  springs  up  in  the  soil  of  human  nature  as  do  the  weeds 
in  a  deserted  field  or  garden.  It  nourishes  side  by  side 
with  man's  noblest  achievements  in  the  world  of  thought 
and  in  the  realm  of  nature ;  it  is  cradled  with  literature 
and  with  science,  as  having  a  copartnership  in  the  empire 
of  man ;  and  conscience  waits  hard  by;  distressed  but  power- 
less, while  her  clearest  and  most  imperative  commands  are 
disregarded.  "  Video  meliora  probocjue,  deteriora  sequor." 
— "  The  good  that  I  would  I  do  not,  but  the  evil  which  I 
would  not  that  I  do." 1  -  Thus  speaks  fallen  human  nature 
at  its  best ;  and  conscience  lingers  on,  like  the  dishonoured 
and  pathetic  representative  of  some  decayed  family  splen- 
dour, to  witness  that  it  was  not  always  thus  with  man ;  to 
whisper  to  him,  as  occasion  may  present  itself,  that  after 
all  he  is  not  really  an  improved  brute,  that  he  once  wore 
his  Maker's  likeness,  and  that  he  still  retains  some  traces  of 
its  glory,  though  dimmed  by  accompanying  weakness  and 
shame. 

Such  is  man,  as  his  first  father  has  left  him.  Adam 
could  not  transmit  what  he  had  lost;  and  his  childrer 
remain  alienated  from  the  Source  of  Life,  shrinking  from 

1  Rom.  vii.  19. 


X.] 


Sacerdotalism. 


i87 


God,  disobeying  Him,  yet  haunted  in  their  inmost  being  by 
His  frown  or  His  smile ;  unable  to  expel  Him  altogether, 
whether  from  their  understandings  or  from  their  wills. 
That  man  should  raise  himself  was,  in  the  moral  order,  just 
as  impossible,  as  it  is  physically  beyond  the  power  of  the 
most  accomplished  athlete  to  lift  himself  from  the  earth  by 
the  waistband.  If  man  is  to  be  restored,  a  power  greater 
than  himself,  independent  of  himself, must  needs  restore  him. 
Accordingly,  "  after  that  the  kindness  and  love  of  God  our 
Saviour  towards  man  appeared,  not  by  works  of  righteous- 
ness which  we  have  done,  but  according  to  His  Mercy  He 
saved  us." 1  What  we  could  not  do  for  ourselves,  our  Divine 
Saviour  did  for  us,  and  in  us.  There  is  One  Mediator 
between  God  and  men ; 2  a  Mediator  in  His  acts,  because, 
first  of  all,  a  Mediator  in  virtue  of  His  twofold  nature.  On 
the  one  hand,  He  is  very  God ;  on  the  other,  He  is  of  the  race 
of  man  ;  and  thus  simply  by  being  what  He  is,  He  bridges 
over  the  chasm  which  the  Fall  had  opened  between  earth 
and  heaven.  He  acts  for  God  upon  mankind ;  and  He  acts  for 
men  towards  God.  As  the  Perfect  Man,  He  represents  man- 
kind in  the  Eternal  Presence  ;  while,  since  in  Him  dwelleth 
all  the  fulness  of  the  Godhead  bodily,  He  is  also  the  channel 
through  which  the  Divine  Life  flows  down  into  all  those 
members  of  the  human  family  who  are  in  real  contact  with 
Himself.  As  the  sinless  representative  of  the  race  before 
the  awful  Sanctity  of  God,  He  atones  for  all  who  are  one 
with  Him  ;  God  sees  us  sinners  in  Him,  our  sinless  Brother ; 
the  Father  beholds,  in  His  supreme  act  of  self-sacrifice 
upon  the  Cross,  that  absolute  moral  elevation  of  which 
we  in  our  weakness  and  isolation  could  never  have  been 
capable ;  and  thus  we  are  "  accepted  in  the  Beloved,"  3  Who 
becomes  "  a  propitiation  for  our  sins,"  4  and  buys  us  back 
from  slavery  to  sin  and  to  its  penal  consequences.5  And, 

1  Titus  iil  4,  5.  2  r  Tim  ^  -  3  Eph.  1  6 

*  Rom.  iii.  25.   1  St.  John  ii.  2 ;  iv.  10.    5  1  Cor.  vi.  20.    2  St.  Pet.  ii.  1. 


i88 


Sacerdotalism. 


[Serm. 


as  representing  God  to  us,  He  bestows  upon  us  the  gifts 
of  which  we  fallen  men  stand  so  greatly  in  need — grace 
and  truth.  Truth,  to  restore  to  the  intelligence  that  clear, 
undimmed  perception  of  Him  Who  is  the  Source  and 
End  of  "Life,  and  in  the  knowledge  of  Whom  standeth 
the  true  life  of  the  human  intellect  itself;  and  grace,  or, 
in  modern  language,  force,  that  practical  favour  of  God 
which  is  something  more  than  kindly  feeling,  and  which 
invigorates  and  braces  the  will,  and  makes  it  really 
capable  of  virtue.  Thus  the  light  of  the  knowledge  of  the 
glory  of  God  is  given  in  the  face  of  Jesus  Christ.1  Thus 
we  can  do  all  things  through  Christ  that  strengthened  us.2 
Thus  our  complete  reconciliation  with  God  is  achieved,  not 
without  our  co-operation,  but  certainly  not  in  virtue  of  it, 
through  the  bounty  and  compassion  of  God  in  Christ. 

St.  Paul  adds, "  He  hath  committed  unto  us  the  word  of 
the  Eeconciliation."  Is  the  Apostle  speaking  here  in  the 
name  of  the  whole  Christian  body  ?  This  can  hardly  be  main- 
tained, if  we  look  at  the  context,  in  which  St.  Paul  refers 
to  this  very  commission  as  a  warrant  for  addressing  his 
readers ;  as  furnishing  him,  in  fact,  with  his  credentials  as 
an  ambassador  from  God.  He  hath  committed  unto  us — 
the  sentence  is  twice  repeated — the  ministry  or  word  of  the 
Eeconciliation.  "  Now,  then,"  he  adds,  "  we  are  ambassa- 
dors for  Christ,  as  though  God  did  beseech  you  by  us ;  we 
pray  you  in  Christ's  stead,  be  ye  reconciled  to  God."3 
Nor  is  there  anything  to  imply  that  St.  Paul  is  restrict- 
ing his  language  to  himself  personally,  or  to  the  other 
Apostles,  or  to  the  circumstances  of  the  first  Christian  age. 
The  embassy  from  heaven  which  he  describes  was  surely 
not  less  necessary  to  mankind  in  the  second  or  third 
Christian  centuries  than  it  had  been  in  the  first.  And 
when  we  find  the  Apostle  in  the  Pastoral  Epistles  engaged 
in  providing  for  the  perpetuation  of  a  ministerial  institute 

1  2  Cor.  iv.  6.  2  Phil.  iv.  13.  3  2  Cor.  v.  20. 


X]  Sacerdotalism.  189 

in  the  Church  of  Christ,1  and  giving  rules  for  its  action  and 
its  guidance,2  we  are  justified  in  concluding  that  his  own 
claim  to  be  Christ's  ambassador  of  reconciliation  among 
the  Corinthians  would  be  repeated  by  remote  and  undis- 
tinguished successors,  who  in  distant  ages  and  countries 
would  still  carry  on,  in  their  several  scenes  of  duty,  his 
own  life-absorbing  work. 

Now,  so  far  as  wTe  can  see,  without  some  such  provision, 
the  work  of  Eeconciliation  would  have  been  incomplete. 
For  this  Eeconciliation  between  God  and  man,  achieved 
by  Christ,  is  first  of  all  a  truth  to  be  recognised  by  the 
understanding,  and  then  a  fact  with  which  each  soul  must 
be  placed  in  actual  contact.  When  the  Mediator  had  with- 
drawn from  sight,  how  was  the  truth  of  the  Mediation  to 
be  kept  alive  and  propagated  in  the  souls  of  men,  unless 
some  organized  machinery  for  securing  this  were  authori- 
tatively provided  ?  Hence  the  institution  of  the  Christian 
Ministry.  The  ministers  of  Christ  are  not  a  body  of 
lecturers,  whose  business  it  might  be  to  investigate  a  subject 
which  is  imperfectly  understood,  and  to  make  periodical 
reports  of  their  successive  investigations.  The  first  duty  of 
the  Christian  ministry  is  to  witness  persistently  to  the 
fact,  that  in  Christ  Jesus,  God  and  Man,  mankind  and 
God  are  really  reconciled.  But  this  is  not  its  highest 
duty.  Since  the  Reconciliation  is  of  no  avail  except 
to  those  wrho  are  actually  reconciled,  it  is  not  enough 
for  a  man  to  learn  that  it  has  been  made;  he  must 
know  how  he  personally  may  reap  its  benefits.  Thus 
the  Christian  ministry  is  a  ministry  of  grace  as  well 
as  of  truth ;  it  bids  every  man,  on  the  one  hand,  hold 
out  the  hand  of  faith  that  he  may  receive  God's  gifts; 
while,  on  the  other,  it  is  itself  a  means  whereby  the  grace 
or  invigorating  force  of  Christ,  conveyed  by  His  Spirit, 
and  reaching  man  by  the  certificated  channels  of  His  ap- 

1  2  Tim.  ii.  2.    Tit.  i.  5.  2  I  Tim.  iii*  2-12.     Tit.  i.  7-9. 


190  Sacerdotalism.  [Serm. 


proach,  makes  us  "  one  with  Christ,  and  Christ  with  us."1 
The  "  Word  of  Keconciliation,"  taken  in  its  broad  sense, 
includes  all  the  powers2  of  the  Gospel  age,  which  enable 
Christ's  ministers  to  do  their  Master's  work.  And  thus, 
at  this  hour,  the  commission  still  runs — "  Be  thou  a  faith- 
ful Minister  of  the  Word  of  God,  and  of  His  Holy  Sacra- 
ments, in  the  Name  of  the  Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and 
of  the  Holy  Ghost."3 

II. 

Here  we  encounter  the  watchword  of  an  objection,  per- 
haps I  ought  rather  to  say,  of  a  state  of  feeling,  which, 
under  present  circumstances,  if  it  is  to  be  noticed  at  all,  re- 
quires on  all  hands  a  serious  effort  of  forbearance.  A  label 
is  not  an  argument,  properly  speaking ;  it  may  represent 
the  effort  of  a  busy  age  to  dispense  with  argument,  and  to 
record  its  judgment  in  a  compendious  form ;  it  is  sometimes 
the  instinctive  language  of  far-sighted  justice ;  but  not  less 
frequently  is  it  the  verdict  of  onesidedness  or  of  passion. 
In  religious  matters  men  have  always  been  prone  to  affix 
labels  to  forms  of  belief  or  thought  of  which  they  feel  more 
or  less  suspicious;  and  this  not  always  ill-naturedly,  or 
with  the  view  of  disabling  an  opponent  by  imprinting  on 
him  a  stigma,  but  in  order  to  make  their  own  way  clear  to 
themselves  under  perplexing  circumstances.  For  the  mass 
of  men  are  secretly  but  profoundly  conscious  of  their  real 
indistinctness  of  vision,  even  when  their  language  is 
boisterously  positive.  As  they  feel  their  way  doubtfully 
along  the  frontier  which  separates  the  seen  from  the  unseen 
world,  they  are  often  more  ready  to  welcome,  or  even  to 
set  up  guide-posts,  than  to  inquire  whether  such  erections 
are  recommended  by  adequate  authority,  and  whether  the 
guidance  which  they  offer  is  altogether  accurate.  And 

1  Communion  Service,  Exhortation. 

2  Heb.  vi.  5,  Swdyueis  /x^Wovtos  a.iwi>os.  3  Ordination  of  Priests. 


Sacerdotalism. 


191 


hus  it  has  happened,  that  fearing  some  very  possible  and 
ome  quite  impossible  dangers,  certain  persons  have  lately 
aised  a  prominent  notice-board  close  to  the  district  of 
nought  which  we  are  now  considering;  and,  on  looking  up, 
vq  find  traced  across  it,  in  characters  that  compel  the 
,ttention  of  the  world,  a  formidable  word,  harmless  in  itself, 
>ut  surrounded  with  very  invidious  associations ;  the  word 
Sacerdotalism." 

Now,  a  popular  judgment,  such  as  this  word  represents, 
s  not  by  any  means  to  be  at  once  set  aside,  as  if  it  were 
>nly  the  product  of  ignorance  or  injustice.  A  certain 
dement  of  justice,  it  is  at  least  probable,  underlies  all  such 
niblic  judgments  ;  and  those  whom  they  may  seem  to  con- 
cern do  well,  while  recognising  this,  to  analyze  them,  and 
0  separate  the  element  which  is  dictated  by  a  true  insight 
)r  feeling  from  the  element  which  is  supplied  by  vulgar 
)rejudice.  This  word  Sacerdotalism  is  intended  to  dis- 
parage what  we  know  to  be  a  great  and  solemn  truth ;  but 
t  is  also  employed  to  describe  traditional  habits  of  thought 
>r  a  professional  temper,  which  are  really  due  to  human 
veakness,  and  which  are  not  untainted  by  human  sin.  Let 
is  begin  with  the  truth  which  those  who  employ  it  would 
gnore  or  set  aside. 

Here  the  maintenance  of  positive  truth  has  been  made 
nore  difficult  than  it  might  be,  by  later  accretions  gathered 
■ound  the  deposit  which  comes  down  to  us  from  the  early 
Church.  When,  for  instance,  the  New  Testament  speaks 
>f  an  authoritative  "  word  of  reconciliation,"  1  or  of  "  the 
;eys  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven," 2  or  of  a  "  stewardship  of 
he  mysteries  of  God,"  3  men  think  of  claims  which  have 
)een  made  to  dispense  with  the  Divine  Law,  or  to  depose 
nonarchs  from  their  thrones;  and  they  reflect  that  such 
laims  do  undoubtedly  threaten  the  wellbeing  or  even 

1  2  Cor.  v.  18,  19.       2  St.  Matt,  xvi.  io.   Cf.  Isa.  xxii.  22.    Rev.  iii.  7. 
3  1  Cor.  iv.  1. 


192 


Sacerdotalism. 


[Serm. 


the  independence  of  civil  society.  And  yet,  if  we  are  tc 
give  up  all  truths  that  have  been  exaggerated  into  errors 
all  institutions  that  have  swerved  from  their  original 
purpose  to  become  the  instruments  of  ambition  or  worldli- 
ness,  it  is  easy  to  see  that  much  will  not  be  left  of  the 
best  blessings  which  God  has  given  us.  Not  that,  in  the 
case  before  us,  it  is  necessary  to  enter  at  length  upon  a 
minute  discussion  of  the  exact  powers  involved  in  the 
Apostolic  ministry,  in  contrast  to  exaggerations  on  this 
side,  or  to  negations  on  that.  For  the  popular  brand  of 
Sacerdotalism  knows  nothing  of  these  distinctions ;  it  does 
not  generally  attach  itself  to  one  particular  conception  of 
the  Christian  ministry  and  spare  the  rest ;  it  would  have 
been  just  as  freely  used  of  St.  Paul  "  magnifying  his  office"1 
as  the  Gentile  Apostle,  as  it  is  used  of  those  who  advance 
pretensions  which  he  never  thought  of,  and  even  of  others 
who  ostentatiously  disclaim  powers  which  he  fearlessly 
asserted.  Nay,  a  living  writer  has  not  scrupled  to  describe 
our  Lord  Himself  as  a  sacerdotalist.  By  sacerdotalism, 
then,  something  is  meant  of  a  broad  and  general  kind  which 
underlies  specific  forms  of  the  idea,  and  with  this  con- 
ception of  what  sacerdotalism  is,  it  is,  on  every  account, 
important  to  reckon  if  we  can. 

It  would  appear  that  the  etymology  of  the  word  is  no 
real  guide  to  us.  The  Jewish  priest  was  pre-eminently  a 
sacrificer  ;  he  had  a  commission  from  above  to  put  animals 
to  death  in  expression  of  a  religious  faith.  In  other  priest- 
hoods other  powers  have  been  more  prominently  claimec 
than  sacrifice ;  but  it  is  not  any  one  pretension  or  endow- 
ment which  rouses  the  feeling  which  the  word  "  sacer- 
dotalism "  now  represents. 

That  which  is  really  objected  to  would  seem  to  be  th< 
claim  to  speak  and  act  in  the  things  of  God  under  a  Divirn 
commission ;  to  have  been  put  in  trust  with  the  Gospel,  no 

1  Eom.  xi.  13. 


Sacerd o  ta  lism . 


193 


•f  man,  but  by  Jesus  Christ ;  to  be  part  of  the  Divine  plan 
if  reconciliation,  as  actually  given  to  the  world,  however 
tumble  and  subordinate  a  part ;  to  be  an  integral  element 
If  the  Divine  Constitution  of  the  Church,  in  such  sense 
hat  the  Church  would  be  something  else  than  the  Church 
»f  the  Apostles  if  it  were  omitted.  In  this  broad  sense 
sacerdotalism"  is  charged  against  a  serious  Presbyterianism 
s  well  as  against  Episcopacy  ;l  against  the  Westminster 
Assembly  not  less  than  against  the  Savoy  Conference. 
7rom  this  point  of  view  new  Presbyter  is  but  old  Priest 
vrit  large;  and  not  merely  the  English  Clergy,  but  the 
Aresleyan  Conference,  are  said  to  be  "inclined  to  sacer- 
lotalisni."  All  thoughtful  Christian  ministers  know  that 
hey  need  a  Divine  warrant  for  their  momentous  work ; 
■ightly  or  wrongly,  they  all,  in  some  sense,  claim  it ;  and 
t  is  the  claim  to  have  such  a  warrant  which  is  resisted, 
because  it  involves  on  the  part  of  others  a  certain  depen- 
dence upon  the  man  or  order  which  possesses  it.  Whether 
me  ministerial  power  only  is  claimed,  or  others  also, 
loes  not  here  matter ;  what  is  objected  to  is  the  assertion 
;hat  a  man  is  in  any  way  dependent  upon  the  intermediate 
igency  of  his  brother  man  for  obtaining  any  of  the 
Redemptive  Blessings  which  have  been  won  by  Christ. 

1  For  an  old  illustration  of  this,  see  "Rome  ruined  by  Whitehall;  or 
?he  Papall  Crown  Demolisht:  containing  a  Confutation  of  the  three 
,)egrees  of  Popery,  viz.  Papacy,  Prelacy,  and  Presbitery  ;  answerable  to 
he  Triple  Crown  of  the  three-headed  Cerberus,  the  Pope,  by  John  Spittle - 
.ouse,  Assistant  to  the  Marshall- General  of  the  Army  under  the  command 
f  his  Excellency  the  Lord  General  Fairfax.  London,  Paine,  1650."  In 
is  preface,  addressed  "to  the  Commons  assembled  in  Parliament,"  Mr. 
'pittlehouse  assures  them  that  they  "are  the  men  whom  God  intends  to 
onour  as  His  Instruments  to  pluck  up  Antichrist,  root  and  branch."  He 
rays  them  "  to  delay  not  time,  but  with  a  Christian  courage  resolve  to  act 

full  Reformation,  which,"  he  continues,  "you  will  never  effect  so  long  as 
ou  support  the  Prelaticall  or  Presbiterian  Clergy,  either  in  office  or  main- 
jnance,  that  of  Presbitery  being  a  Romish  Hierarchy  as  the  other,  as  in  this 
lsuing  treatise  is  proved  at  large."    Cf.  ch.  vi.  pp.  244-7. 

N 


194 


Sacerdotalism. 


[Serm, 


in. 

"What,  let  us  ask,  are  the  main  currents  of  thought  whicl 
underlie  the  feeling  that  raises  the  cry  of  "  sacerdotal 
ism  "  ? 

First  of  all,  there  is  the  doctrine  of  the  original  equality 
of  man  with  man.  This  is  a  conception  with  which  w< 
are  familiar  in  the  sphere  of  politics.  The  assertion  thai 
spiritual  blessings  come  to  one  man  through  the  agency 
of  another  man,  or  order  of  men,  appears  to  traverse  th( 
inherent  equality  of  all  men  before  their  Maker.  If  then 
are  no  traces  of  this  sentiment  in  the  earliest  ages  of  th< 
Church,  it  is  because  then  the  Clergy,  first  in  labour  and  firsl 
in  suffering,  were  tribunes  of  the  people,  the  working  re- 
presentatives of  classes  who  groaned  under  the  iron  rul( 
of  the  Caesars.  But  with  the  Middle  Ages,  or  rather  before 
them,  there  came  a  change.  It  was  a  consequence,  perhaps 
an  inevitable  consequence,  of  the  conversion  of  the  Empire 
It  was  due,  not  to  clerical  ambition  or  greed,  but  to  th( 
nature  of  things,  to  the  course  of  the  Divine  Providence 
The  Church  became  politically  powerful ;  her  chief  minister; 
were  often  princes ;  they  were  still  spiritual  pastors 
but  they  were  also  robed  in  earthly  splendours.  Now  s( 
long  as  the  early  feudal  order  of  society  held  its  place,  th( 
Church  did  not  suffer  from  this  association.  But  whei 
that  long  series  of  struggles  for  a  new  political  freedon 
set  in,  which  began  with  the  efforts  of  small  township 
to  hold  their  own  against  the  great  territorial  lords,  an( 
which  have  culminated  in  the  revolutionary  outbreak 
of  our  own  age,  men  could  no  longer  distinguish  betwee: 
what  belonged  to  this  world  and  what  to  another  in 
feudalized  clergy.  Too  often  the  Church's  spiritual  claim 
have  shared  in  the  hostility  which  her  temporal  power  c 
wealth  provoked.  Presbyterianism,  it  has  been  said,  wa 
in  its  origin  not  so  much  an  attempt  to  create  a  new  kin 


Sacerdotalism. 


195 


I  Church  governraent  supposed  to  be  Scriptural,  as  a  poli- 
cal  protest  against  an  aristocratic  hierarchy.  And  thus 
has  come  to  pass  that  there  is  a  modern  feeling  against 
ay  ministerial  order  claiming  a  Divine  commission,  as 
eing  an  indirect  violation  of  the  civil  rights  of  man ; 
id  as  threatening  a  relapse  into  social  conditions  from 
Inch  the  modern  world  is  happy  to  think  that  it  has 
ually  escaped. 

And  yet,  brethren,  is  it  true  that  any  such  equality  of 
^an  with  man,  as  this  feeling  really  presumes,  is  possible  ? 
•oubtless,  as  simple  souls  divested  of  all  save  that  inalien- 
jle  responsibility  for  all  which  each  of  us  is  and  does,  we 

absolutely  equal  before  the  eye  of  God.  Xo  difference 
possible  before  God,  between  king  and  subject,  between 
dest  and  layman,  between  the  unlettered  and  the  learned, 
3tween  the  poor  'and  the  rich,  save  that  which  each  for  him- 
'lf  has  made.  But  beyond  this  point  inequalities — so  far  as 
e  can  see,  inevitable,  irremoveable  inequalities — at  once 
3gin.  Modern  experiments  have  done  much  for  liberty: 
imething  here  and  there  for  fraternity ;  but  even  when, 
)  in  France,  they  have  effaced  nearly  all  that  is  beautiful 

the  civilization  of  a  thousand  years,  they  have  achieved 
r  real  equality  absolutely  nothing.  There  is  no  making 
iad  against  the  nature  of  things,  against  the  structural 
ws  of  common  human  life.  And  thus  in  natural  society 
e  still  see  on  all  sides,  men  and  classes  of  men,  with 
horn  we  cannot  ourselves  dispense ;  we  trace  a  series  of 
erarchies,  upon  which  we  are  dependent  for  moral,  mental, 
ivsical  blessings,  whether  we  will  or  no. 
There  are  the  priests  of  wealth.  Wealth  is  not,  and  it 
.nnot  be,  distributed  among  men,  as  the  apostles  of  an 
>solute  human  equality  would  desire.  Proclaim  a  general 
•nfiscation  of  property  to-day;  and  wealth  will  begin 

concentrate  itself  anew  in  a  few  hands  to-morrow* : 
ere  are  economical  laws  which  make  this  concentration 


196 


Sacerdotalism. 


imperative.  And  if  this  be  so,  what  are  the  holders  1 
wealth  but  its  priests ;  the  guardians  of  its  great  shrine 
the  dispensers  of  material  blessings  which  are  unattainab 
without  it ; — priests  of  wealth,  having  the  power  of  the  ke^ 
and  the  power  of  sacrifice,  as  a  priesthood  should  ? 

Again,  there  are  the  priests  of  knowledge;  the  pries 
of  the  most  enterprising  forms  of  modern  knowledge, 
physical  science.  What  a  hierarchy  is  this  ;  how  brilliar 
how  enthusiastic,  how  powerful !  How  does  the  mode] 
world  hang  breathless  on  its  dogmatic  utterances;  ho 
does  our  freshest  and  most  promising  talent  throng  i 
temples!  It  may  take  liberties,  this  priesthood,  such 
its  power  ;  it  may  unsay  to-day  what  yesterday  it  affirm* 
very  positively ;  and  yet  it  does  not  imperil  its  influenc 
or  risk  our  allegiance ;  we  are  altogether  dependent  on  i 
we  cannot  do  without  it  if  we  would.  It  is  the  herald 
a  revelation,  the  revelation  of  nature;  and  we,  childr( 
of  nature  as  we  are,  cannot  deny  its  capacity  for  blessii 
us,  or  our  powerlessness  to  do  for  ourselves  what  it  unde 
takes  so  well.  Every  day  it  brings  alleviation  to  individu 
suffering,  or  safeguards  against  public  danger  to  health,  1 
it  opens  out  new  and  magnificent  prospects  for  the  betterh 
of  the  whole  condition  of  our  earthly  existence ;  and  as  \ 
observe,  and  listen,  and  reflect,  we  cannot  but  see  in  it  i 
organ  of  God's  Providence,  an  embassy  from  Heaven;  "\ 
welcome  in  it  a  Priesthood  which  guards  a  truth  that  h 
claims  upon  us  all. 

Once  more,  there  are  the  priests  of  political  power.  Tb 
too,  is  claimed  for  every  individual  by  current  doctrines 
human  equality.  And  it  has  been,  in  point  of  fact,  agf 
and  again  distributed  throughout  vast  populations,  so  tl 
every  man  may,  as  the  phrase  goes,  govern  himself.  B , 
practically  speaking,  what  happens  ?  If  political  pov 
is  to  work  as  government,  it  must  be  resigned  to  so  ' 
deputy ;   it  must  be  concentrated  in  some  person  ( 


Sacerdotalism. 


197 


ody:  if  you  have  not  a  king,  you  must  have  a  pre- 
ident,  a  directory,  a  convention,  a  parliament,  perhaps 
dictator.  What  is  this  after  all  but  a  hierarchy  ? 
Lnd  the  gifts  which  fit  men  for  this  high  service  of  the 
:ate  are,  as  we  have  all  been  thinking  lately,  rare  and 
ften  unshared ;  they  are  not  secured  by  careful  training ; 
ley  cannot  be  conferred  by  vote ;  they  belong  to  genius. 
)o  what  we  will,  we  are  their  debtors  and  dependants ; 
ve  when  or  where  we  may,  we  cannot  dispense  with 
.iera.  This  priesthood  of  the  state,  which  in  its  way 
lesses,  and  absolves,  and  offers  sacrifice,  and  instructs,  is 
ssential  to  society ;  and  it  guards,  it  does  not  confiscate, 
ur  individual  rights. 
In  fact,  look  where  we  will  in  human  life,  we  must 
?cognise  this  great  fact  in  God's  providential  government 
f  the  world.  He  does  make  large  masses  of  men  de- 
endent  upon  the  good  dispositions  as  well  as  on  the 
apacity  of  others;  He  makes  a  minority  the  guardian 
nd  trustee  of  the  means  of  blessing  the  majority;  He 
ispenses  His  gifts  to  us  not  immediately,  but  through 
re  agency  of  our  fellow-creatures.  As  far  as  we  can 
3e,  this  law  of  responsibility  on  one  side,  and  of  depen- 
ence  on  the  other,  does  not  belong  to  any  particular 
:age  of  civilization ;  it  may  take  different  forms,  it  may 
e  modified  in  many  ways,  but  it  is  inherent  in  the 
ature  of  society.  Society,  made  up  as  it  is  of  human 
eings  with  different  capacities,  and  of  human  beings  who 
merit  the  results  of  similar  inequalities  in  past  generations, 
ill  always  present  to  the  very  end  of  time  this  aspect, 
gainst  which  abstract  doctrines  of  an  absolute  equality 
niong  men  must  dash  themselves  in  vain.  And  thus,  in 
eligion,  a  ministerial  order  illustrates  and  consecrates  the 
eneral  law ;  spiritual  blessings  depend,  within  limits,  like 
ther  blessings,  on  human  agency  ;  and  the  agency  which 
onfers  them  has  a  Divine  warrant  in  history  as  well  as  in 


198  Sacerdotalism.  [Serm. 

the  nature  of  things.  Therefore,  to  say  that  such  an  arrange- 
ment is  hostile  to  the  rights  of  man  as  man,  is  to  object 
to  God's  general  plan  of  governing  the  world ;  a  plan  which 
makes  every  one  of  us  depend  upon  the  ability,  the  conscien- 
tiousness, the  will  of  others,  for  the  greater  part  of  the 
blessings  which  we  enjoy. 

Next,  the  cry  of  "sacerdotalism"  is  raised  on  religious 
grounds:  all  Christians,  it  is  said,  are  already  priests.  U 
anything  is  plain  from  Holy  Scripture,  it  is  that  the  sacrifi- 
cial character  of  the  Jewish  priesthood  was  believed  by  tht 
Apostles  of  Christ  to  be  transferred  to  every  member  of  th< 
Christian  body.  St.  Peter  insists  that  Christians  are  an  hoi) 
priesthood,  appointed  to  offer  up  spiritual  sacrifices,  accept 
able  to  God  through  Jesus  Christ.1  St.  John,  in  vision 
praises  the  Divine  Redeemer  for  making  us  kings  an( 
priests  unto  God  and  His  Father. 2  Where  all  are  priests 
it  is  asked,  why  should  there  be  a  ministerial  order,  sine 
it  can  only  discharge  functions  which  are  the  function 
of  us  all  % 

Certainly,  if  Christian  laymen  would  only  believe  wit 
all  their  hearts  that  they  are  really  priests,  we  shoul 
very  soon  escape  from  some  of  the  difficulties  which  ve 
the  Church  of  Christ.  '  For  it  would  then  be  seen  that  i 
the  Christian  Church  the  difference  between  clergy  an 
laity  is  only  a  difference  of  the  degree  in  which  certai 
spiritual  powers  are  conferred ;  that  it  is  not  a  differenc 
of  kind.  Spiritual  endowments  are  given  to  the  Christia 
layman  with  one  purpose,  to  the  Christian  minister  wit 
another:  the  object  of  the  first  is  personal,  that  of  tl 
second  is  corporate. 

Yes,  the  Apostles  of  Christ  tell  us  all  that  we  are  priest 
But  do  we  take  them  at  their  word  ?  Do  we  say  to  ou 
selves,  except  when  we  are  dealing  with  one  particular  coi 
troversy,  that  their  language  is  only  metaphor,  and  forg 

1  1  St.  Pet.  ii.  5-9.  2  Rev.  i.  6. 


Sacerdotalism. 


199 


^hat  every  metaphor  guards  a  truth  ?  To  the  first  Christians 
his  lay  priesthood  was  a  reality.  A  Christian  layman  111 
he  Apostolic  age  conceived  of  himself  as  a  true  priest. 
-Vithin  his  heart  there  was  an  altar  of  the  Most  Holy, 
.nd  on  it  he  offered  continually  the  sacrifice,  the  costly 
acrifice,  of  his  will,  united  to  the  Perfect  Will  of  Jesus 
Christ,  and,  through  this  union,  certain  of  acceptance 
n  the  courts  of  heaven.  The  Christian  layman  of 
•arly  days  was  thus,  in  his  inmost  life,  penetrated  through 
md  through  by  the  sacerdotal  idea,  spiritualized  and 
ransfigured  as  it  was  by  the  Gospel.  Hence,  it  was  no 
lifficulty  to  him  that  this  idea  should  have  its  public 
•epresentatives  in  the  body  of  the  Church,  or  that  certain 
•eserved  duties  should  be  discharged  by  Divine  appoint- 
nent,  but  on  behalf  of  the  whole  body,  by  these  repre- 
sentatives. The  priestly  institute  in  the  public  Christian 
)ody  was  the  natural  extension  of  the  priesthood  which 
he  lay  Christian  exercised  within  himself ;  and  the  secret 
ife  of  the  conscience  was  in  harmony  with  the  outward 
)rganization  of  the  Church.  But  a  layman  in  our  day  is 
lot  necessarily  a  successor  of  the  primitive  Christian  lay- 
nan  in  anything  but  the  name.  He  is  not  always  a 
reliever  whose  faith  and  humility  shrink  from  the  respon- 
sibilities of  the  ministerial  office  ;  he  may  be  only  a  human 
)eing,  whose  convictions  are  doubtful,  but  who  certainly  is 
lot  in  holy  orders,  and  who  sees  in  the  Ministry  of  Christ 
chiefly  a  badge  of  social  or  political  disabilities.  Where 
here  is  no  recognition  of  the  priesthood  of  every  Christian 
•oul,  the  sense  of  an  unintelligible  mysticism,  if  not  of 
in  unbearable  imposture,  will  be  provoked  when  spiritual 
oowers  are  claimed  for  the  benefit  of  the  whole  body  by  the 
ierving  officers  of  the  Christian  Church.  But  if  this  can  be 
'hanged ;  if  the  temple  of  the  layman's  soul  can  be  again 
nade  a  scene  of  spiritual  worship,  he  will  no  longer  fear 
est  the  ministerial  order  should   confiscate  individual 


200 


Sacerdotalism, 


[Serm 


liberty.  The  one  priesthood  will  be  felt  to  be  the  natura 
extension  and  correlative  of  the  other. 

Lastly,  when  denouncing  "  sacerdotalism,"  men  point  t( 
the  Throne  of  the  Great  Hi°h  Priest  of  Christendom 
Since  He  died,  rose,  and  ascended  into  heaven,  is  not,  the] 
ask,  all  Priesthood,  all  Ministerial  Power,  concentrated  ii 
Him  ?  and  must  not  any  earthly  order  of  priesthood  incu: 
some  risk  of  obscuring  these  Solitary  and  Prerogativ< 
offices,  which  are  our  only  assured  ground  of  Christian  lift 
and  hope  ? 

Such  language  is  too  genuinely  Christian  to  be  disre 
garded ;  and  yet,  if  it  be  pressed,  it  is  fatal  to  the  trutl 
which  was  the  basis  of  the  previous  objection.  If  al 
Christians  are,  in  some  sense,  priests,  Christ  does,  in  somi 
sense,  give  a  share  of  His  Priesthood  to  His  brethren.  Anc 
if  He  gives  a  larger  share  to  some,  and  a  less  to  others,  fo: 
the  good  of  the  whole,  the  question  between  the  opponent! 
and  advocates  of  a  true  ministerial  commission  is,  ii 
reality,  a  question  of  degree.  When  St.  Paul  bade  Timotir 
see  to  it,  that,  in  the  Church  under  his  care,  intercessions 
should  be  made  for  all  men,  he  did  not  think  that  hi 
was  authorizing  an  invasion  of  the  rights  of  the  On 
Great  Intercessor.  And  when  at  the  altar  Christ's  Minister 
plead  His  perfect  Sacrifice  before  the  Father,  or  bless  Hi 
people,  or  announce  His  pardon,  they  act,  not  as  His  rival: 
but  as  His  representatives,  empowered  to  share,  at  howeve 
vast  a  distance,  in  carrying  forward  His  Mediatorial  work. 
It  is  with  His  Priesthood  as  with  His  other  offices  of  Kiri 
and  Prophet.  He  is  the  Prophet  of  Whom  Moses  sang ; 
He  is  the  King  of  kings  and  Lord  of  lords  of  the  apostol 
vision.4  Yet  He  is  not  dishonoured,  if  His  teaching  offi< 
is  exercised,  however  imperfectly,  by  human  instructor; 
and  the  objection  of  the  Fifth  Monarchy  men  to  an  earth 
sovereign  would  hardly  be  repeated  at  the  present  da 
£3  or  is  He  less  truly  alone,  as  a  Priest  upon  His  heaven 

1  i  Tim.  ii.  i.      2  2  Cor.  vi.  I.      3  Deut.  xviii.  15.      *  Rev.  xix.  16. 


X.] 


Sacerdota  lism. 


201 


throne,1  in  His  work  of  sacrifice  and  intercession,  because 
there  is  a  priesthood  of  the  Gospel2  commissioned  by 
Himself  here  on  earth,  whose  business  it  is,  as  ministering 
the  Word  and  Sacraments,  to  bring  His  Mediation  home  to 
the  souls  of  men.  In  short,  He  is  Priest,  Prophet,  King, 
in  an  absolute  and  unique  sense;  all  who  bear  these  titles  be- 
neath His  Throne  are  only  holders  of  a  delegated  authority; 
but  His  rights  are  not  compromised,  His  Majesty  is  not 
obscured,  because  He  intrusts  to  a  certain  number  of  His 
servants  this  or  that  power  for  the  good  of  all  His  brethren. 

And  yet,  let  us  be  sure,  there  is  a  certain  justice  in 
the  popular  cry  which  we  have  been  considering.  Let 
me  address  myself  to  those  of  you  who  hope,  with  God's 
assistance,  to  devote  yourselves  to  His  service  in  Holy 
Orders.  Eemember  that  prejudice  is  less  often  roused  by  a 
theory  or  doctrine  about  our  office  than  by  a  temper,  a  bear- 
ing, a  line  of  conduct.  Men  will  not  tolerate  the  love  of 
spiritual  power,  as  power,  for  its  own  sake;  they  expect 
us  to  bear  in  mind  that  spiritual  power  is  only  lodged  in  the 
hands  of  weak  and  sinful  men  for  the  purposes  of  Divine 
beneficence.  They  will  not  put  up  with  what  seems  trivial 
or  petty,  where  such  great  claims  are  made  upon  their 
thought  and  conscience.  And  their  eyesight  has  been 
sharpened  by  our  Divine  Master's  dealings  with  the  Scribes 
and  Pharisees ;  and  the  faults  of  the  Scribes  and  Pharisees 
are  faults  to  which  a  clerical  order — such  is  human  weak- 
ness— is  always  prone,  and  against  which  it  must  be 
constantly  on  guard,  if  it  would  not  fail  most  miserably. 
To  appropriate  the  high  gifts  of  heaven,  or  the  love,  and 
trust,  and  dependence  of  human  souls,  which  in  some 
measure  are  the  portion  of  every  minister  of  Christ,  for 
the  promotion  of  some  selfish  object,  is  sufficiently  easy ; 
and  yet  it  surely  deserves  the  harshest  judgment  of  a 
critical  and  hostile  world.    If  the  world  tells  us  home 

Zech.  vi.  13.         2  Bora.  xv.  1 6,  iepovpyovvra  t6  evayyeXiov  tov  QeoO. 


202 


Sacerdotalism. 


truths  in  rough  language,  a  true  wisdom  will  forget  the 
language,  and  will  treasure  the  truth.  When  the  Apostle 
says  that  the  word  of  the  Eeconciliation  has  been  com- 
mitted to  us,  he  tells  us  that  we  are  trustees;  and  our 
safety  consists,  perhaps,  in  dwelling  on  the  responsi- 
bilities of  a  great  trust,  rather  than  any  other  aspect  of 
our  office.  A  conscientious  trustee  thinks  first  of  the 
interests  committed  to  him,  next  of  the  office  which  he 
fills  as  guarding  them,  least  of  all  of  himself.  A  con- 
scientious clergyman  will  think  more  of  his  office  than 
of  his  person,  but  he  will  also  take  less  account  of  his 
office  than  of  his  work.  After  all,  the  first  is  only  a  means, 
the  last  is  the  end.  Ministerial  powers  are  given,  not  to 
confer  importance  on  a  man  or  on  an  order,  but  to  promote 
a  work  ;  the  highest  work  that  can  be  carried  on  in  time, 
and  for  eternity,  among  or  by  human  beings.  Such  a  work 
no  doubt  implies  and  requires  great  powers,  but  these 
powers,  like  the  muscular  action  of  the  body,  or  like  the 
finer  capacities  of  the  mind,  are,  it  may  be,  better  taken 
for  granted  than  constantly  discussed.  Certainly,  if  their 
existence  is  challenged,  it  may  have  to  be  asserted. 
But  even  when  such  a  vindication  is  required,  there  is 
always  some  danger  of  putting  the  means  before  the  end, 
and  of  forgetting  the  claims  of  spiritual  duty  in  the 
advocacy  of  a  spiritual  position.  How  slight  indeed  is 
the  outward  structure  of  the  Church  militant,  framed 
though  it  were  by  the  Pierced  Hands  of  the  Divine 
Eedeemer,  when  we  compare  it  with  the  vast  object 
which  it  is  designed  to  achieve  ;  the  working  together  with 
God  for  the  reconciliation  of  souls  to  Him,  the  Source  and 
End  of  created  Life,  through  union  with  the  One  Mediator 
Jesus  Christ !  Only  in  a  far-off  eternity  shall  we  understand 
the  full  scope  of  words  like  these ;  we  come  nearest  to 
understanding  them  here,  by  never  forgetting  that  they 
describe  a  work  which  infinitely  transcends  in  its  impor- 
tance any  other  that  can  possibly  engage  our  attention. 


SERMON  XL 


THE  PROPHECY  OF  THE  MAGNIFICAT. 

St.  Lttke  i.  51-53. 

He  hath  shoiccd  strength  with  His  arm:  He  hath  scattered  tlie  proud  in  the 
imagination  of  their  Jiearts.  He  hath  put  doicn  the  mighty  from  t/icir 
seats,  and  exalted  them  of  low  degree.  He  hath  filled  the  hungry  with 
good  things  ;  and  tlie  rich  He  hath  sent  empty  away. 

THE  Magnificat  is  tacitly  recognised,  by  the  judgment 
and  by  the  heart  of  Christendom,  as  the  noblest  of 
Christian  hymns.  The  occasion  of  its  utterance  was  unique 
in  Jewish,  or  rather  in  human  history ;  it  was  such  as  to 
place  Mary's  Hymn  in  a  higher  category  than  those  other 
evangelical  canticles  which,  together  with  it,  and  with  a 
vie\\r  to  illustrating  St.  Paul's  teaching,  are  preserved  by 
St,  Luke.  When  Mary  sang,  she  had  received  Gabriel's 
message,  and  she  knew  that  her  expected  Child,  con- 
ceived under  circumstances  altogether  preternatural,  would 
be  greater  than  any  of  the  sons  of  men.  Her  hymn,  in 
fact,  is  presented  to  us  in  Scripture  as  the  Hymn  of 
the  Divine  Incarnation;  and  its  contents,  alike  in  their 
explicitness  and  in  their  reserve,  are  in  keeping  with  its 
historical  origin.  It  has  indeed  been  suggested1  that 
Mary,  in  visiting  her  cousin,  would  scarcely  have  broken 
out  into  a  long  canticle  instead  of  engaging  in  the  conver- 

1  Strauss,  Lcbcn  Jesu. 


204         The  Prophecy  of  the  Magnificat,  [Serm. 


sation  which  would  be  natural  between  relations  after  a 
period  of  separation.  But  it  may  be  replied,  first,  that  the 
Evangelist  does  not  profess  to  report  all  that  passed  at  the 
Visitation;  and,  secondly,  that,  even  within  the  sphere  of 
purely  natural  experience,  there  are  moments  when  human 
feeling  altogether  refuses  to  submit  to  the  ordinary  re- 
straints of  homely  intercourse,  and  when,  under  the  stress 
of  great  joy  or  sorrow,  we  must  either  be  silent,  or  express 
ourselves  in  a  strain  which  to  cool  observers  at  the  time, 
and  to  ourselves  at  other  times,  would  appear  to  be  unna- 
tural. If,  then,  we  reflect  what,  according  to  the  Evan- 
gelist, the  recent  experience  of  the  Virgin-mother  had 
actually  been,  we  must  feel  the  impossibility  of  interpreting 
this  utterance  by  the  rules  which  govern  our  feelings  and 
conversation  in  daily  life.  And,  indeed,  it  is  not  difficult 
to  imagine  how  our  critic  would  himself  have  treated  the 
report  of  a  business-like  discussion  on  family  matters,  inter- 
spersed with  some  pious  reflections,  if  St.  Luke  could  have 
bequeathed  one.  Nor  is  it  possible  to  agree  in  the  forced 
expression  of  surprise  that  a  hymn  emanating  immediately 
from  so  high  a  source  of  inspiration  "  should  not  be  more 
striking  for  its  originality." 1  Certainly  the  modern  feeling 
of  anxiety  to  owe  nothing  to  a  literary  predecessor  finds 
no  place  in  the  sacred  writers  ;  prophets  continually  repeat, 
with  new  freshness  and  authority,  the  language  of  older 
men  of  God;  and,  to  omit  other  examples,  the  holiest  of 
all  prayers  is  largely  based  on  Eabbinical  petitions  which 
were  in  use  when  it  was  first  prescribed.  Yet  in  all  such 
cases,  new  combinations,  new  associations,  a  new  and  all- 
inspiring  purpose,  do  secure  a  true  element  of  originality ; 
for  originality  maybe  achieved  not  less  perfectly  by  the  effec- 
tive use  of  old  ideas  and  language  than  by  the  production 
of  new  material.  Unquestionably  Mary,  in  her  hymn,  does 
speak  almost  entirely  in  the  sacred  language  of  the  past; 

1  Strauss,  Leben  Jesu. 


XL]        The  Prophecy  of  the  Magnificat.  205 


two  Books  of  the  Law,  a  late  Psalmist,  two  Prophets,  and 
the  work  of  the  Son  of  Sirach  are  laid  under  contribu- 
tion :  above  all,  the  Song  of  Hannah,  to  whose  memory 
in  her  new  circumstances  Mary  would  not  unnaturally  have 
turned,  supplies  a  large  proportion,  both  of  its  language 
and  its  form,  to  the  Hymn  of  the  Visitation.  And  yet  who 
would  seriously  compare  the  earlier  with  the  later  poem  ? 
Throughout  the  Magnificat,  exclaims  a  living  foreign  Pro- 
testant divine,  there  reigns  a  truly  royal  majesty:1  Mary 
passes  from  pouring  forth  the  thankful  joy  of  her  heart  to 
point  with  reverent  awe  at  the  Divine  fact  which  was  its 
provoking  cause ;  and  then,  as  if  gazing  from  a  lofty  emi- 
nence, in  the  fulness  of  the  prophetic  spirit,  she  discerns 
the  consequences  of  this  fact  in  human  nature  and  history; 
and  the  last  strophe  of  her  song  dies  away,  as  she  owns  in 
it,  not  simply  a  personal  honour  rendered  to  herself,  but 
the  supreme  token  of  God's  faithfulness  and  compassion 
towards  the  people  of  His  choice. 

I 

It  is  in  what,  if  we  were  to  write  it  out  in  its  ori- 
ginal Aramaic  form,  we  should  call  the  third  strophe 
of  the  hymn2  that  Mary's  feeling  seems  to  attain  its 
highest  point  of  elevation ;  while  yet  the  rising  impulse 
of  inspired  passion  is  restrained  by  her  observance  of 
the  law  of  poetic  parallelism.  Mary  has  already  referred 
in  tender,  solemn,  and  reserved  language  to  the  great 
things  which  God  has  done  to  her.  And  now  she  is,  as 
it  were,  looking  out  across  the  centuries  at  the  mighty 
religious  revolution  which  would  date  from  the  appear- 
ance of  her  Divine  Son  on  the  scene  of  human  history. 
God,  she  exclaims,  hath  showed  strength  with  His  arm ; 
He  hath  scattered  the  proud;  He  hath  put  down  the 
1  Godet,  Comm.  S.  Luc,  in  loc.  2  St.  Luke  i.  51-53. 


2o6         The  Prophecy  of  the  Magnificat.  [Serm. 


mighty;  He  hath  exalted  the  humble;  He  hath  filled  the 
hungry ;  He  hath  sent  the  rich  empty  away.  It  is  true 
that  these  are  past  tenses,  and  they  might  thus  be  referred 
to  the  triumphs  and  fortunes  of  Israel  in  bygone  days ;  to 
that  ancient  discomfiture  of  the  Egyptian  power,  which  was 
scarcely  ever  absent  from  the  memory  and  heart  of  Hebrew 
saints  and  patriots ;  to  the  dethronement  of  the  Canaanite, 
the  Amorite,  the  Amalekite  kings  who  vainly  endeavoured 
to  arrest  the  advancing  destinies  of  Israel;  to  the  abasement 
of  the  pride  of  Moab  and  of  the  might  of  Babylon ;  to 
the  restoration  in  splendour  and  in  power  of  the  chosen 
race,  when  it  had  been  fast  bound  by  merciless  conquerors 
in  misery  and  iron.  Mary  has  been  understood  to  mean 
that  Israel,  as  a  people,  did,  on  the  whole,  even  in  its 
worst  moments,  more  or  less  hunger  and  thirst  after 
righteousness,  and  was  rewarded  by  a  long  line  of  teachers 
of  spiritual  truth,  culminating  in  the  Greatest  Teacher  of  all; 
while  other  peoples,  rich  indeed  in  natural  endowments, 
but  sated  with  the  conceits  of  misdirected  speculation,  or 
with  the  cumbrous  splendours  of  a  mere  material  civiliza- 
tion, were  sent  empty  away  from  the  spiritual  feast.  But 
it  seems  that  Mary  is  thinking  less  of  the  past  than  of  the 
present,  and  of  the  future  which  lies  in  the  womb  of  the 
present.  So,  after  the  manner  of  prophets,  she  does  not 
anticipate  that  which  is  yet  to  come ;  she  reads  off  what 
she  sees  intuitively,  as  if  it  were  already  history.  He 
hath  scattered  the  proud ;  He  hath  put  down  the  mighty ; 
He  hath  exalted  the  humble ;  He  hath  filled  the  hungry ; 
He  hath  dismissed  the  rich.  God's  work  is  for  Mary  as  if  it 
were  present  or  past,  while,  speaking  historically,  although 
on  the  point  of  beginning,  it  was  still,  in  its  richest 
and  truest  sense,  altogether  future.  In  her  great  hymn 
Mary  stands,  no  doubt,  between  two  histories,  between 
two  dispensations.  They  present  many  points  of  resem- 
blance to  each  other,  and  she  can  hardly  prophesy  with- 


XL]        The  Prophecy  of  the  Magnificat.  207 


jut  describing,  or  describe  without  prophesying.  But 
upon  the  whole  she  is  looking  forward  rather  than  back- 
ward; she  is  prophetess  rather  than  historian;  and  her 
language  is  to  be  interpreted  less  by  the  history  of  Israel 
ifter  the  flesh  than  by  that  of  the  New  Kingdom  of  her 
Divine  Son. 

And  here  let  us  dwell  more  closely  on  Mary's  words, 
to  learn,  if  it  may  be,  their  interpretation  in  history. 

AYho  are  these  —  the  "  proud  "  1  —  claiming  distinc- 
tion beyond  others  on  the  score  whether  of  influence, 
3r  accomplishments,  or  position,  or  virtue  ?  There  are 
critics  who  cannot  think  of  Mary  as  more  than  a  pa- 
triotic Jewess.  Accordingly  they  see  in  this  epithet  only 
a  reference  to  heathen  pride,  whether  the  pride  of  political 
power  or  the  pride  of  culture  and  philosophy.  This  pride 
still  lives  in  the  pages  of  Tacitus,  or  Juvenal,  or  Lucian ; 
lavishing  its  bitterness  on  the  strange  unaccommodating 
race,  whose  spirit  it  could  not  quell ;  despising  its  virtues 
aot  less  than  its  vices,  its  intrepid  loyalty  to  what  truth  it 
knew  not  less  than  its  narrowness  and  superstition.  But  if 
the  pride  of  heathendom  was  in  the  background  of  Mary's 
vision,  there  wTere,  in  the  more  immediate  foreground, 
3thers  than  the  heathen  on  whom  her  spiritual  eye  wrould 
probably  rest.  Unless  wre  are  to  suppose  that,  deferring 
to  a  merely  technical  use  or  abuse  of  language,  and  in 
defiance  of  the  moral  facts  of  the  case,  she  draws  a  sharp 
line  between  Jew  and  Gentile,  making  the  first  monopolize 
the  graces  of  humility  and  meekness,  and  the  latter  the 
vice  of  pride,  we  must  see  in  "  the  proud  "  a  reference  to  the 
jreat  Jewish  sects,  who,  speaking  historically,  were  the 
first  opponents  of  the  Gospel.  There  was  the  pride  of  the 
Sadducee;  generally  wrealthy,  sceptical,  and  conservative, 
tolerant  of  what  he  deemed  fanaticism  till  it  gave  him 
trouble,  or  threatened  the  existing  order  of  things,  but 

1  VTCpT}<pOLVOl'S. 


2o8         The  Prophecy  of  the  Magnificat.  [Serm. 


regarding  with  serene  contempt  any  serious  proposal  for 
extending  the  influence  of  religion,  or  for  improving  the 
condition  of  the  people.  And  there  was  the  Pharisee; 
aiming  morally  far  higher  than  his  rival,  but  ruining 
everything  by  his  determined  self-complacency,  forgetting 
the  motive  in  the  act,  the  inward  in  that  which  meets  the 
eye,  the  real  in  the  conventional.  And  behind  these  were 
the  Herodians;  interesting  themselves  in  the  religious 
situation  only  so  far  as  was  necessary  to  make  political 
capital  out  of  it,  but  resenting  with  scorn  any  assertion  of 
a  spiritual  claim  or  force  which  could  not  be  made  politi- 
cally serviceable.  These  were  the  first  opponents  of  the 
New  Kingdom ;  and  their  discomfiture,  when  the  Church 
of  Christ  burst  the  bonds  of  Jewish  nationality,  and  spread 
out  her  arms  to  all  the  nations  of  the  world  through  the 
ministry  and  by  the  voice  of  St.  Paul,  is  the  first  stage  in 
the  great  drama  which  Mary  sees  unfolding  itself  before 
her. 

The  second  is  wider  in  its  range.  He  hath  put  dowr 
the  "  sovereigns," 1  from  their  thrones.  Here  it  is  pos- 
sible enough  that  Mary  glances  at  the  Idumsean  ruler 
whose  presence,  in  the  judgment  of  all  Jewish  patriots 
casts  a  dark  shadow  over  the  city  of  David.  But  behinc 
the  throne  of  Herod  is  the  more  remote  but  more  awfu 
throne  of  his  great  patron,  the  throne  of  the  Csesar 
Here  the  horizon  has  already  widened  too  largely  t( 
permit  us  to  think  only  of  the  fortunes  of  a  local  an( 
dependent  potentate.  Mary  is  gazing  at  the  head  am 
centre  of  the  ancient  world,  at  the  godless  power  whicl 
St.  John  in  his  Apocalypse  describes  as  Babylon.  Whei 
Mary  sang,  the  Csesars  were  at  the  head  of  their  legion* 
and  the  world  was  at  their  feet.  But  pass  a  few  centurie 
and  the  imperial  name  is  but  a  shadow,  and  Eome  ha 
been  again  and  again  the  prey  of  her  barbaric  enemies,  an< 

1  dwdaros. 


X]       The  Prophecy  of  the  Magnificat.  209 


oths  and  Huns,  Vandals  and  Lombards,  have  shared  her 
)oils.  Doubtless  the  Christians  were  loyal  to  "  the  powers 
iat  be."  But  Christianity,  as  a  principle,  did,  however 
voluntarily,  contribute  to  the  ruin  of  the  Pagan  Empire. 
Doner  or  later  the  new  wine  of  a  Divine  life  must  have 
irst  the  bottle  of  an  effete  civilization.  An  apostle  had 
en  "another  angel  come  from  heaven,  .  .  .  and  he 
led  mightily  with  a  strong  voice,  saying,  Babylon  the 
-eat  is  fallen,  is  fallen."  1 

Yes  !  Gibbon  felt  the  power  of  Mary's  words,  when,  as  he 
lis  us  in  his  autobiography,  on  the  15th  of  October  1764, 
3  sat  musing  amid  the  ruins  of  the  Capitol,  while  they 
ere  chanting  the  Vesper  Service  in  wdiat  had  once  been 
le  Temple  of  Jupiter  ;  and  the  idea  of  writing  the  Decline 
id  Fall  of  the  city  first  presented  itself  to  his  mind.2 
hat  which  met  his  eye  was  a  comment  on  the  language 
\  the  Magnificat,  as  it  fell  upon  his  ear:  "He  hath 
at  down  the  mighty  from  their  thrones."  The  great 
lonument  of  historical  genius  which  he  was  thus  led  to 
iar,  is  unrivalled  to  this  day  in  its  own  field  and  province 
5  a  sample  of  literary  method,  and  in  many  respects  of 
itual  information,  although  it  is  disfigured  by  features 
hich  all  Christians  must  deplore.  But  do  we  not  trace 
1  it  not  merely  a  reaction  from  the  thoughtless  impulse 
hich  had  hurried  its  author  in  early  life  into  communion 
ith  the  Church  of  Borne,  but  also,  and  much  more,  a  sort 
I  literary  resentment,  such  as  was  seen  more  than  once 
1  the  earlier  days  of  the  Benaissance  against  God's  judg- 
lents  manifested  in  history;  a  resentment  which,  by  its 
ery  petulance,  attests  the  completeness  and  the  meaning 
I  God's  work?  It  was  hard  to  confess — it  was  impos- 
ble  to  deny — that  when  Borne  fell,  God  had  put  down 
ie  mighty  from  their  thrones. 

1  Rev.  xviii.  2. 

2  Autobiographic  Memoirs  oj  Edward  Giblon,  p.  79  (ed.  Warao.) 

0 


2io         The  Prophecy  of  the  Magnificat.  [Serm. 


The  Empire  has  passed  away,  the  horizon  widens  yet 
more,  and  Mary  sees  a  new  stage  in  the  fortunes  of  the 
Church.    "He  hath  filled  the  hungry  with  good  things, 
and  the  rich  He  hath  sent  empty  away."    The  old  pagan 
civilization,  sated  with  its  luxury,  sated  with  its  false 
philosophy,  was  dismissed ;  and  the  young  races  beyond 
the  Rhine  and  the  Danube,  hungering  for  a  higher  truth 
than  as  yet  they  knew,  were  filled  with  good  things  of 
the  kingdom  of  Christ.    Pagan  Eome  was  succeeded  by 
Christian  Europe;  and  since  that  astonishing  revolution, 
the  last  clause  of  this  strophe  of  Mary's  song  has  been 
continually  fulfilling  itself.    The  old  civilizations  of  the 
East,  but  especially  the  races  which  have  been  petrified  hy 
the  creed  of  Islam,  and  so  believe  themselves  to  have 
attained  all  that  is  needed  for  true  human  excellence 
receive  nothing,  century  after  century,  from  the  Master  o: 
the  feast;  while  simple  and  comparatively  rude  peoples 
such  as  the  New  Zealanders  and  the  Melanesians,  arc 
brought  into  the  fold  of  Christ,  and  filled  with  the  goot 
things  of  the  everlasting  Gospel. 

Thus,  then,  Mary  seems  to  imply  a  correspondenci 
between  the  conditions  of  the  Incarnation  itself  and  it 
remote  moral  consequences  in  Christian  history.  As  th 
Highest  had  regarded  the  low  estate  of  His  handmaider 
putting  upon  her,  conceived  though  she  was  in  sin,  sue) 
altogether  pre-eminent  honour,  that,  from  henceforth  to  th 
latest  time,  all  the  Christian  generations  should  bless  he 
name ;  so  the  chiefest  blessings  of  that  new  order  of  thing 
which  was  to  date  from  the  coming  of  the  Lord  Incarnat< 
would  not  belong  to  the  qualities  which  might  hitherto  hav 
seemed  to  enjoy  a  presumptive  claim  upon  success.  Th 
kingdom  of  grace  would  have  a  history  all  its  own.  Tli 
self-assertion,  the  power,  the  wealth  of  the  world  would  I 
at  a  discount;  the  men  of  low  estate  would  be  exalted,  an 
the  hungry  would  be  filled. 


CL]       The  Prophecy  of  the  Magnificat.        2 1 1 


II. 

But  while  we  may  thus  with  fair  probability  connect 
iese  clauses  of  the  Magnificat  with  successive  stages  in 
le  history  of  the  Church,  it  is  unquestionable  that  they 
re  or  may  be  in  course  of  fulfilment,  at  any  one  period 
id  simultaneously;  that  each  and  all  of  them  is  or  may 
3  realized  perfectly  in  every  age.  The  "proud,"  the 
mighty,"  the  "rich"  of  the  Incarnation  Hymn  are 
.ways  here ;  to  be  scattered  by  the  arm  of  God ;  to  be  put 
own  from  their  thrones;  to  be  sent  empty  away.  This  is 
•ue  in  the  private  and  spiritual  as  well  as  in  the  political 
ad  public  sphere.  And  the  question  arises,  why  is  it 
•ue?  Why  is  there  this  intrinsic  antagonism  between 
le  Eevelation  of  God  on  the  one  hand,  and  so  much  that 
.  characteristic  of  human  nature  and  energy  on  the  other? 
The  answer  to  this  question  is,  that  Christianity  pre- 
ipposes  in  man  the  existence  of  an  immense  want,  which 
i  undertakes  to  satisfy.  It  further  assumes  that  this 
ant  is  so  serious  and  imperative  that  all  honest  natures 
rast  crave  for  its  satisfaction.  Thus  when  St.  Paul,  in  the 
reatest  of  his  epistles,  is  about  to  explain  howT  man  attains 
)  peace  and  reconciliation  with  God  through  faith  in  the 
tediatorial  work  of  Jesus  Christ,  he  prefaces  this  state- 
lent  with  an  inquiry  into  man's  actual  moral  circum- 
■ances.  Having  divided  the  human  race  for  this  purpose 
ito  Jew  and  Gentile,  he  shows  how  and  why  each 
:ction  of  mankind  is  guilty  before  God,  as  falling 
together  short  of  the  moral  ideals  which  the  law  of 
ature  and  the  law  of  Sinai  respectively  presented.1  And 
3re,  of  course,  St.  Paul  is  dealing  with  a  matter  of  general 
tperience.  The  ancients  could  be  profuse  in  acknow- 
■dging  the  moral  misery  of  human  life.    And  if  Eousseau 

1  Rom.  i.  20-32;  ii.  17-29;  iii.  9-20. 


2 1 2         The  Prophecy  of  the  Magnificat.  [Seiui. 


traces  this  misery  to  a  false  culture,  and  would  cure  it  by 
returning  to  a  state  of  nature,  and  if  Goethe,  when  he  is 
writing  about  Wink  elm  ann,  permits  himself  to  dream  oi 
the  indestructible  healthfulness  of  Greek  heathenism,  the 
first  of  these  opinions  may  be  profitably  tested  by  almost 
any  book  of  African  or  Pacific  travel,  while  the  second  has 
only  to  be  examined  by  the  light  of  the  best  Greek  writers. 
Indeed,  wherever  a  bond  fide  law  of  moral  truth,  howevei 
imperfect,  is  recognised  at  all,  St.  Paul's  position  must  be 
conceded.1  And  what  he  argues  as  to  man's  moral  con- 
dition is  true  of  his  intellectual  condition  as  well.  Whei 
man  is  left  to  himself,  all  the  great  problems  which  sur- 
round human  existence,  man's  origin,  his  relation  to  th( 
world  around  him,  the  meaning  and  drift  of  his  existence 
his  destiny,  nay,  the  question  what  he  himself  is,  whethe: 
only  brute  or  embodied  spirit,  are  either  entirely  unsolvec 
or  approached  only  in  uncertainty  and  twilight.  In  short 
a  man  does,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  need  health  and  ligh 
from  above;  and  these  requirements  have  been  met  bj 
what  St.  Paul  calls  the  "  goodness  and  philanthropy  of  ou 
Saviour  God  "  2  in  the  Divine  Incarnation. 

There  was,  indeed,  a  great  school  of  divines3  in  th 
Middle  Ages,  which,  if  it  has  few  direct  representatives,  ye 
is  not  without  some  influence  on  modern  theology,  an 
which  ventured,  in  the  real  or  supposed  interests  of  a  com 
prehensive  philosophy,  to  maintain  that  the  Incarnatio 
was  not  simply  an  answer  to  our  needs ;  that  it  did  nc 
originally  depend  upon  the  lapse  of  our  first  parent,  bi 
only  received  a  new  shape  and  purpose  in  consequence 
that  "  etiamsi  non  peccasset  homo,  Deus  tamen  esset  incai 
natus."  Pew  would  venture  nowadays  to  affirm  or  to  di: 
pute  so  bold  a  thesis  as  that.  All  that  we  know  is  that  tf 
earliest  intimations  of  God's  gracious  purposes  towards  \ 
are  linked  to  the  first  steps  in  the  degradation  of  our  rac< 
1  Rom.  iii.  9.  2  Tit.  iii.  4.  3  The  Scotists. 


CI.]        The  Prophecy  of  the  Magnificat.  213 


nd  we  dare  not  speculate  upon  what  He  might  have  done 
rith  a  sinless  world,  so  utterly  unlike  that  world  of  which 
ve  have  actual  experience.  We  know  that  "  all  have 
inned  and  come  short  of  the  glory  of  God,  being  justified 
reely  by  His  grace  through  the  redemption  that  is  in 
Christ  Jesus."  1  We  know  that  "  because  the  children  are 
)artakers  of  flesh  and  blood,  He  also  Himself  likewise 
00k  part  of  the  same;  that  through  death  He  might 
lestroy  him  that  had  the  power  of  death,  that  is  the 
levil ;  and  deliver  them  who  through  fear  of  death  were 
.11  their  lifetime  subject  to  bondage."  2  We  know  that 
le  was  made  "  sin  for  us  Who  knew  no  sin,  that  we 
night  be  made  the  righteousness  of  God  in  Him." 3 

Christianity,  then,  appeals  to  a  matter  of  fact ;  it  insists 
hat  the  deficiencies  of  our  nature  are  such  as  to  require  some 
noral  and  intellectual  aid  from  heaven.  There  are  many 
jifts  of  God  which  enrich  human  life,  but  which  do  not  come 
0  it  as  knowledge  comes  to  those  who  are  perishing  through 
gnorance,  or  as  medicine  comes  to  those  who  are  the  victims 
)f  neglected  disease.  These  gifts  are  embellishments  of 
mman  life ;  they  are  not  essential  to  its  wellbeing.  They 
lo  not  fill  up  a  gap ;  they  only  add  to  what  was  already  in 
ts  way  complete  without  them.  Now  that  we  enjoy  them 
ve  know  their  value,  and  perhaps  they  have  created  wants 
vhich  would  beset  us  sorely  if  they  were  withdrawn;  but 
it  least  we  did  not  crave  for  them ;  we  did  not  feel,  until 
hey  were  vouchsafed  to  us,  that  something  of  the  kind 
vas  absolutely  needed  for  the  welfare  of  our  race.  Take, 
or  example,  two  such  gifts  of  God  as  poetry  and  photo- 
graphy; the  one  almost  as  old  as  the  human  family,  the 
>ther  a  gift  to  this  Western  world  within  the  lifetime  of 
he  present  generation.  No  doubt  poetry  has  its  moral 
'alue,  sometimes  of  a  very  high  order ;  and  a  world  from 
vhich  it  should  be  utterly  banished  would  seem  to  many 

1  Rom.  iii.  23,  24.  2  Hcb.  ii.  14.  3  2  Cor.  v.  at. 


214         The  Prophecy  of  the  Magnificat.  [Serm. 


of  us  to  be  by  comparison  an  impoverished  and  uninviting 
world.  Still  it  would  get  on — this  prosaic  world — some- 
how, even  without  the  poets  ;  and  as  for  photography,  we 
remember  that  not  many  years  ago  the  most  civilized 
nations  in  Europe  were  not  conscious  of  any  vital  deficiency 
in  the  absence  of  this  beautiful  and  interesting  art.  And 
in  like  manner,  although  astronomy  has  enlarged  out 
knowledge  of  God,  perhaps,  more  than  any  other  non- 
theological  branch  of  human  knowledge,  and  the  use  oi 
steam-power  has  done  more  than  any  recent  discovery 
to  improve  the  conditions  of  man's  physical  life,  yet  the 
world  did  not  yearn  for  a  Watt  or  a  Copernicus,  howevei 
ready  it  now  is  to  admit  its  indebtedness  to  them.  Anc 
it  may  well  be  that  in  future  years  our  children  will  hav( 
discovered  powers  in  nature  and  made  the  most  of  them 
— new  gifts  of  God,  which  we  do  not  look  for,  because  w» 
have  no  want  which  suggests  even  a  suspicion  of  thei 
existence. 

With  Christianity  it  is  otherwise.  It  was  vaguely  an 
ticipated  by  the  thoughts  and  hearts  of  men  for  age 
before  it  came.  Not  merely  Judaea,  but  Athens  aw 
Alexandria — not  merely  the  heirs  of  Abraham's  promises 
but  heathens  feeling  after  God,  if  haply  they  might  fin 
Him — expected  Him  to  reveal  Himself,  listened  for  Hir 
to  speak.  They  looked  out  upon  the  old  world,  such  as  : 
was — a  stage  on  which  all  the  moral  laws  witnessed  to  b 
the  natural  conscience  were  perpetually  violated;  the 
looked  up  to  the  throne  of  heaven.  "  Surely,"  they  said,  " 
there  be  a  moral  God  He  must  interfere ;  sooner  or  lat< 
He  will  rend  the  heavens  and  come  down;  the  clow 
and  darkness  that  seem  to  be  round  about  Him  will  w 
always  hide  from  our  eyes  the  righteousness  and  judgmei 
that  are  the  habitation  of  His  seat." 

And  now  He  has  spoken,  nay,  He  has  come  among  t 
And  if  a  man  is  to  accept  Christianity,  he  must  recogni 


XL 


The  Prophecy  of  the  Magnificat.        2  1 5 


n  his  own  case,  as  well  as  generally,  the  force  of  the  fact 
0  which  Christianity  appeals ;  the  fact  that  man  needs  it. 
[f  he  has  no  appetite  based  on  this  sense  of  want ;  if  he 
las  never  known  that  instinctive  feeling  after  God  which 
St.  Paul  ascribes  to  the  old  Gentile  world ; 1  if  his  con- 
science is  treated  as  a  mere  bundle  of  associations,  or  at 
east  has  never  been  sufficiently  active, 

"Nocte  dieque  suiim  gestare  in  pectore  testem," 

is  it  ranges  over  his  past  life ;  if  he  has  been  living,  and 
still  lives,  as  though  the  universe  were  self-existent,  and 
;here  were  no  such  thing  as  absolute  moral  truth ;  then, 
:or  him,  the  Gospel  is  of  course  unwelcome,  if  in  no  other 
^ense,  yet  as  being  superfluous.  It  offers  a  supply  where 
:here  is  no  demand,  and  it  is  naturally  rejected.  As  our 
Lord  said,  with  the  tenderness  of  Divine  irony,  "  They  that 
ire  whole  need  not  a  physician,  but  they  that  are  sick ;  I 
:arne  not  to  call  the  righteous,  but  sinners  to  repentance." 2 

But  this  insensibility  to  the  facts  of  man's  existence  will 
not  always  last.  Sooner  or  later  the  truth  will  avenge 
itself.  Happy  they  wTho  in  this  world  experience  the 
sentence  of  the  Magnificat;  in  whom  pride  and  self- 
reliance  is  put  down  from  its  seat,  and  spiritual  hunger  is 
rewarded ;  who  discover  ere  it  is  too  late  that,  in  Scripture 
language,  they  are  poor  and  blind  and  naked,  and  who 
:ake  the  Divine  counsel  to  buy  raiment  and  fine  gold  and 
3ye-salve  from  the  Son  of  Man.3 

Observe  the  bearing  of  this  on  a  point  which  sooner  or 
^ater  has  a  practical  meaning  for  most  men,  in  days  like 
^urs. 

When  men  get  perplexed  about  the  claims  of  Chris- 
tianity, they  are  often  led  to  complain  that  the  evidences 
Christianity  are  not  more  cogent  than  they  are.  They 
1  Actsxvii.  27.  2  gt  Matt>  ix<  I2>  I3>  3  Rev>  ift  lS< 


216        The  Prophecy  of  the  Magnificat.  [Serm. 


ask,  "  Why,  if  Christianity  is  true,  and  of  such  great  impor- 
tance to  all  of  us,  we  cannot  have  mathematical  demon- 
stration of  its  claims  ?  Why  are  we  thrown  back  upon 
moral  considerations,  which  confessedly  present  themselves 
so  very  differently  to  different  minds  ?  Does  it  not  look 
as  if  the  producible  evidence  was  really  unequal  to  the 
task  required  of  it,  and  as  if  Christian  apologists,  con- 
scious of  this  fact,  were  anxious  to  blunt  the  keenness  o; 
criticism  by  insisting  that  inquirers  about  Christianity 
should  take  up  a  moral  position  which  already  half  dis 
poses  them  to  allow  its  assertions  ?  " 

Certainly,  my  brethren,  it  must  be  admitted  that  th( 
Christian  evidences  presuppose  a  certain  moral  sympathy 
in  an  inquirer.    They  are  in  fact  moral  and  not  mathe 
matical  or  experimental.    They  are  not  of  so  imperative  \ 
character  as  to  impose  themselves,  as  the  sensible  experi 
ence  of  an  earthquake  or  of  an  eclipse  imposes  itself,  upoi 
reluctant  wills.    We  do  not  accept  the  Apostles'  Cree< 
by  a  mental  act  identical  with  that  which  accepts  th 
conclusion  of  a  proposition  in  Euclid.    For  the  Cree< 
addresses  itself  not  simply  to  our  capacity  for  speculativ 
thought,  but  also  by  implication  to  our  sense  of  dut} 
because  we  know  that  if  it  is  true,  a  great  many  practice 
consequences  immediately  follow.    Therefore  the  evidenc 
in  its  favour  is  so  adjusted  as  to  be  sufficient  for  thos 
who  wish  for  attested  information  as  to  the  nature  an 
will  of  the  Author  of  the  law  of  risdit  and  wrong  withi 
them,  and  insufficient  for  others  who,  conscious  of  dis 
loyalty  to  that  inner  law,  would  rather  be  without  sue 
information.   In  this  sense  it  must  be  granted  that  Christ 
anity  expects  to  be  met — if  not  half  way,  yet  to  a  certai 
point — by  the  yearnings  of  human  nature ;  by  desire  base 
upon  a  clear  discernment  of  its  need  of  knowledge  and  i 
its  need  of  strength.     If  the  evidences  for  Christianit 
were  of  such  a  character  that  no  honest  and  educated  ma 


XI. 


The  Prophecy  of  the  Magnificat.  217 


could  possibly  reject  them  without  intellectual  folly,  what- 
ever his  moral  condition  or  history  might  be,  then  Chris- 
tian belief  would  be  like  a  university  degree,  a  certificate 
of  a  certain  sort  of  mental  capacity,  but  it  would  be  no 
criterion  whatever  of  a  man's  past  or  present  relation  to  God. 
St.  Paul  makes  faith  such  a  criterion ;  because  faith  is  a 
moral  as  much  as  an  intellectual  act ;  because  it  combines 
our  sense  of  moral  want  with  our  perception  of  the  bearings 
of  moral  evidence.  Thus  a  margin  of  deficiency,  mathe- 
matically speaking,  is  even  necessary  in  the  Christian  evi- 
dences as  a  whole,  in  order  to  leave  room  for  the  exercise 
of  faith;  that  vital,  emphatic  act  of  the  whole  soul,  by 
which  the  soul  throws  itself  on  the  invisible,  and  thus 
secures  the  proper  moral  objects  of  Christianity  itself. 

III. 

It  would  be  easy  to  show  how  intimately  our  prospects 
of  improvement  in  all  departments  of  human  activity  and 
life  must  depend  upon  our  faith  in  the  continuous  fulfil- 
ment of  the  words  of  the  Magnificat.  The  temper  which 
is  there  foredoomed  is  in  reality  the  great  obstacle  to  the 
attainment  of  our  best  hopes  for  the  future. 

What  is  the  master  passion  of  many  of  the  noblest  men 
who  have  ever  lived  ?  It  is  the  conquest  of  speculative 
truth.  And  in  our  day  this  passion,  always  energetic, 
seeks  its  object  more  eagerly  than  before  in  the  experi- 
mental sciences.  Every  Christian  must  admit  that  a 
physical  fact  is  just  as  much  a  part  of  God's  truth, 
although  not  possibly  as  necessary  for  all  men  to  know, 
as  is  any  fact  of  the  Christian  creed.  Eeligious  men  have 
been  slow  to  own  this.  The  Church  of  Borne  made  a 
signal  mistake  in  the  case  of  Galileo,  and  no  candid  person 
would  affirm  that  a  mistake  of  that  sort  was,  either  two 
centuries  ago  or  since,  likely  to  be  peculiar  to  the  Church 


218         The  Prophecy  of  the  Magnificat.  [Serm. 


of  Eome.  All  ascertained  facts  are  parts  of  a  perfectly 
harmonious  whole,  and  must  be  welcomed  by  any  sincere 
workman  who  is  employed  in  any  corner,  spiritual  or 
natural,  of  the  great  temple  of  Truth.  But  religion  has 
two  complaints  to  make  against  some  representatives  of 
modern  physics.  It  complains,  that  the  submission  of 
Christian  intellect  is  again  and  again  peremptorily  de- 
manded not  for  facts,  but  for  some  hypothesis,  which,  if  we 
are  to  judge  from  the  past,  may  be  presently  discredited 
and  abandoned.  It  complains  further,  that  there  is,  on 
the  part  of  some  scientific  men,  a  strange  indisposition, 
which  at  least  rivals  any  private  theological  prejudice  in 
its  irrational  tenacity,  to  admit  facts  of  a  different  order 
from  their  own.  No  a  priori  doctrine  about  the  absolute 
invariability  of  natural  law  will  persuade  us  Christians 
that  Jesus  Christ  did  not  really  rise  from  the  dead.  The 
Eesurrection  rests  upon  adequate  testimony,  and  a  really 
comprehensive  science  will  recognise  and  account  for  it, 
whether  by  supposing  the  intervention  of  a  higher  law  or 
otherwise.  It  is  irrational  to  demand  that  Christians  shall 
forget  the  great  fact  which  sustains  their  faith  because 
science  has  formulated  a  doctrine  of  invariable  law ;  Chris- 
tianity may  be  denounced  as  unprogressive  or  reactionary, 
but  Christians  will  keep  their  eyes  on  the  evidence  which 
has  sustained  the  highest  minds  and  the  noblest  efforts  for 
eighteen  centuries,  and  will  repeat  their  own  "  E  pur  se 
muove."  Surely  there  are  yet  mists  of  intellectual 
assumption  to  be  scattered,  forms  of  thought  to  be  put 
down  from  their  seat ;  surely  there  is  a  simple  hungering 
after  all  truth  to  be  encouraged,  in  more  quarters  of  the 
world  of  thought  than  one,  if  our  common  object,  to  know 
all  that  we  can  of  the  Will  and  ways  of  God,  is  to  be  suc- 
cessfully attained. 

What  is  the  most  earnest  aspiration  of  every  Christian 
soul  in  its  best  moments  ?    Is  it  not  spiritual  improve- 


XL]        The  Prophecy  of  the  Magnificat.  219 


merit  ?  And  why  is  it  that  the  main  source  of  this,  the 
study  of  the  Bible,  is  so  often  unproductive  ?  Because 
men  only  study  the  surface  of  the  Bible,  or  at  best  the 
mind  of  the  Bible.  They  do  not  study  its  heart.  Doubt- 
less the  Bible,  more  than  any  other  book,  is  a  centre  of 
interest ;  philological,  historical,  philosophical,  moral.  The 
man  of  letters  was  right  who  said,  that  if  he  must  have 
the  companionship  of  only  one  book  to  the  end  of  his 
days,  he  would  choose  the  Bible.  But  to  see  in  Holy  Scrip- 
ture the  most  interesting  history,  the  strongest  and  most 
pathetic  poetry,  the  most  searching  moral  teaching  known 
among  men,  is  to  do  less  than  justice  to  the  true  majesty 
and  power  of  the  sacred  volume.  We  learn  all  these  things 
from  the  Bible  as  its  critics ;  but  there  is  something  be- 
yond to  be  learned  from  it  only  when  we  have  the  grace 
to  be  simply  learners,  anxious  that  it  should  speak  to  our 
inmost  souls.  And  its  power  of  doing  this  is  best  realized 
when  the  great  moral  barrier  of  self-complacency  has  been 
removed,  and  the  soul  hungers  to  be  filled  with  the  good 
things  of  spiritual  truth.  Here  it  is  that  we  often  see  the 
illuminative  office  of  sorrow :  sorrow  forces  us  on  our 
knees  ;  sorrow  disperses  our  prejudices ;  sorrow  casts  down 
our  mental  idols;  sorrow  sharpens  our  appetite  for  the 
unseen  and  the  eternal.  There  are  psalms,  there  are  pas- 
sages in  the  Gospels  and  in  St.  Paul,  which  no  man  can 
understand  without  the  preparatory  discipline  of  mental 
pain;  and  thousands  of  Christians  have  learned  to  say, 
with  the  Psalmist,  "  It  is  good  for  me  that  I  have  been  in 
trouble,  that  I  may  learn  Thy  statutes."  1 

And  what  is  the  prayer  which  Christians  must  most  fre- 
quently use  for  the  distracted  Church  of  Christ  ?  Must  it 
not  be,  that  "  all  they  that  do  confess  His  Holy  Name  may 
agree  in  the  truth  of  His  Holy  Word,  and  live  in  unity 
and  godly  love  ? "    Must  it  not  be  the  earthly  echo  of  that 

1  Ps.  cxix.  71. 


2  20         The  Prophecy  of  the  Magnificat.  [Serm. 


intercession,  begun  in  the  supper-chamber  and  continued 
in  heaven  from  century  to  century,  that  "  they  all  may  be 
one,  as  Thou,  Father,  art  in  Me,  and  I  in  Thee,  that  they 
also  may  be  one  in  Us :  that  the  world  may  believe  that 
Thou  hast  sent  Me  "  ? 1  Who,  indeed,  can  have  any  mode- 
rate acquaintance  with  the  unbelieving  thought  of  our 
time  without  knowing  that  it  appeals  to  no  fact  more 
frequently  or  with  more  force  than  that  of  the  divisions 
among  Christians,  when  it  would  justify  its  rejection  of 
our  Master's  claims  ?  Doubtless  there  are  real  differences 
of  principle  underlying  our  divisions.  On  the  one  side 
the  unwarranted  claims  of  Eome,  on  the  other  the  Puritan 
denial  of  what  our  Lord  has  revealed  as  to  the  structure 
of  His  Church,  and  the  grace  and  power  of  His  sacra- 
ments, make  separation  necessary,  until  He  Who  rules 
the  hearts  of  men  as  well  as  the  course  of  events,  shall 
bring  about,  in  whatever  way,  an  understanding  between 
those  who  sincerely  confess  His  Name.  But  meanwhile, 
how  different  would  the  situation  be  if  the  still  inevitable 
separation  were  not  so  often  embittered  by  social  and 
political  antagonisms,  by  accumulations  of  prejudice  and 
passion  which  overlay  the  real  points  at  issue,  and  which 
make  the  angel-chant  of  peace  on  earth  and  goodwill 
amongst  men  sound  from  the  heavens,  Christmas  after 
Christmas,  like  a  hideous  sarcasm  !  There  is  enough  in 
some  recent  circumstances  almost  to  provoke  despair ;  and 
yet,  as  Christians,  we  may  be  sure  that  the  forces  which 
will  ultimately  reunite  the  Church  of  God  and  secure  its 
triumph  are  not  really  in  abeyance.  The  Conference  which 
was  held  at  Bonn  two  months  ago  2  under  the  presidency 
of  the  first  of  Church  historians,  may  have  achieved  less 
than  its  more  sanguine  wellwishers  had  hoped.  But  at 
least  it  has  proved  how  petty  and  trivial  are  some  of  the 
misunderstandings  which  have  contributed  to  produce  the 

1  St.  John  xvii.  21.  2  In  August  1874. 


XL]       The  Prophecy  of  the  Magnificat.  221 


widest  chasms  in  Christendom ;  it  has  helped  to  dissipate, 
it  any  rate  within  a  certain  area,  the  moral  obstacles  to 
concord  between  disconnected  Churches;  it  has  even  seemed 
0  foreshadow,  not  indistinctly,  the  advent  of  a  happier  day 
;han  ours,  when  a  wide  unity  may  be  enjoyed  without 
confiscating  truth ;  when  truth  will  be  acknowledged,  in 
io  half-hearted  or  indifferentist  spirit,  at  a  less  costly 
sacrifice  than  that  of  outward  and  inward  unity. 

It  is  encouraging  to  reflect  that  we  can  all  work  for 
*reat  and  noble  ends  like  this,  by  learning  the  moral  lesson 
>vhich  is  the  traditional  subject  of  to-day's  sermon  in  this 
pulpit.  Some  assumptions  to  dissipate,  some  mental  idols 
;o  depose,  some  truth  and  goodness  to  hunger  after,  there 
mist  be  for  all  of  us.  And,  as  a  great  living  analyst  of 
luman  nature  has  lately  reminded  us,  "  The  growing  good 
)f  the  world  is  partly  dependent  on  unhistoric  acts ;  and 
:hat  things  are  not  so  ill  with  you  and  me  as  they  might 
aave  been  is  half  owing  to  the  number  who  have  lived 
faithfully  a  hidden  life,  and  rest  in  unvisited  tombs." 


SERMON  XII. 


THE  FALL  OF  JERICHO. 

Heb.  xi.  30. 

By  faith  the  walls  of  Jericho  fell  down,  after  they  were  compassed  ahout 
seven  days. 

FEW  events  in  the  history  of  the  Old  Testament  possess 
a  more  varied  interest  than  the  fall  of  Jericho.  It 
marks  the  first  decisive  step  towards  the  real  conquest  of 
Canaan,  and  the  conquest  of  Canaan  forms  an  epoch  in 
the  history  of  Israel  and  of  the  world.  The  fall  of  Jericho 
sounds  the  knell  of  an  old  civilization :  it  marks  the  suc- 
cession, if  not  the  birthday,  of  the  new.  The  true  Lord  of 
the  land  has  come  to  take  possession,  and  the  tenant,  who 
has  so  ill  discharged  his  trust,  must  at  last  give  account 
of  it.  The  historian  is  concerned  to  note  how  at  this 
epoch  a  body  of  social  and  political  truth,  which  the  greatest 
of  human  lawgivers  had  delivered  to  his  rude  countrymen, 
is  passing  the  frontier  of  desert  life,  in  order  to  take  up  a 
settled  place  and  home  among  the  nations  of  the  world.  The 
moralist  dwells  upon  the  tragic  collapse  of  races  endowed 
with  some  fine  natural  qualities,  but  the  willing  victims  of 
an  incurable  corruption,  which  had  sapped  the  best  elements 
of  healthy  national  life,  long  ere  the  invader  appeared  on 
the  hills  of  Bashan ;  he  bends  before  that  sterner  side  of 
the  Divine  Justice,  upon  which  no  sinner  can  gaze  without 


The  Fall  of  Jericho. 


223 


ipprehension,  but  which  no  serious  Theist  can  presume 
0  question.  And  the  theologian,  who  knows  what  was 
lie  real  mission  of  Israel  as  the  preserver  and  herald  of  a 
nessage  from  above,  sees  in  the  fall  of  J ericho  a  decisive 
,tep  towards  the  formal  establishment  of  the  theocracy ;  he 
lere  welcomes  the  presage  of  a  triumph  which  the  Gospel 
vould  one  day  win  over  a  prouder  and  stronger  world. 

the  New  Testament,  however,  the  event  is  noticed, 
lot  for  its  wide  historical,  or  ethical,  or  theocratic  inte- 
•est,  but  simply  as  a  victory  of  faith.  Under  that 
ispect  let  us  regard  it  to-day.  The  ground,  the  diffi- 
lulties,  above  aH  the  power  of  faith,  may  well  engage 
;ome  attention  on  a  festival,  when  Christians  endeavour 
steadily  to  contemplate  faith's  highest  Object ;  when  "  by 
he  confession  of  a  true  faith  we  acknowledge  the  glory 
)f  the  Eternal  Trinity,  and  in  the  power  of  the  Divine 
\Iajesty  worship  the  Unity." 1  Nor  is  the  subject  much  less 
ippropriate  on  an  occasion  consecrated  by  the  custom  of  the 
University  to  considering  the  extension  of  the  Church  of 
Christ  in  the  dependencies  of  this  great  Empire.  There 
ire  many  other  reasons  for  wishing  well  to  such  a  cause 
resides  those  which  faith  suggests ;  but  faith  alone  can 
nidertake  to  promote  it  with  any  hope  of  serious  and 
asting  success. 

I. 

"By  faith  the  walls  of  Jericho  fell  down."  Whose 
'aith  ?  The  faith,  not  of  a  single  leader  merely,  but  of  a 
people ;  the  faith,  not  only  of  Joshua,  but  of  Israel.  And 
n  whom  was  this  faith  reposed  ?  In  Him  Who,  as  Israel 
jelieved,  had  spoken  to  the  ancestors  of  the  race,  had  con- 
tacted with  them  a  covenant  of  grace  and  service,  had 
caught  their  descendants  His  Law,  and  had  made  them, 
done  among  the  nations,  its  depositaries  and  guardians. 

1  Collect  for  Trinity  Sunday. 


224  The  Fall  of  Jericho.  [Serm. 

To  Israel,  He  was  a  living  King,  ever  at  hand  to  teach,  to 
rebuke,  to  judge,  to  bless.  It  was  Israel's  faith  which 
realized  His  Presence,  as  a  substantial  fact ;  Israel's  was  a 
faith  which,  needing  no  daily  proof  of  that  which  it  could 
not  see,  was  itself  the  evidence  of  the  truth  of  its  object. 
It  was  in  short  a  new  sense,  a  second  sight.  It  was  not 
without  relations  to  reason  and  conscience,  to  preceding 
mental  information  and  to  moral  life,  but  it  was  really 
an  intuitive  perception,  which  habitually  pierced  the  veil 
of  sense,  and  rested  on  the  Invisible.  And  its  main  object, 
as  has  been  said,  was  the  Personal  God.  A  singular  paradox 
has  lately  been  projected,  to  the  effect  that  Israel  did  not 
believe  in  a  Person  at  all,  but  only  in  some  power  or 
stream  of  tendency,  not  ourselves,  making  for  righteous- 
ness.1 The  object  of  this  theory  is  to  eliminate,  if  possible, 
from  the  earliest  records  of  the  faith  of  Israel,  from  the 
primitive  religion  of  the  Bible,  the  last  trace  of  a  meta- 
physical element.  The  author  is  clear-sighted  enough  to 
see  that  if  you  say  that  God  is  a  Person,  you  make  an 
assertion  which  is  just  as  metaphysical  as  any  one  of  the 
propositions  in  St.  John's  Gospel,  or  in  the  Mcene  or  Atha- 
nasian  Creeds;  and  he  wishes  to  relieve  the  primitive 
religion  of  Israel  from  what  he  conceives  to  be  a  damaging 
imputation.  So  Israel,  he  maintains,  knew  nothing  of  a 
personal  God ;  Israel  assigned  the  name  God  to  conduct  or 
righteousness,  contemplated  for  the  time  being  with  deep 
emotion ;  or  if  to  something  not  in  any  sense  ourselves,  thee 
to  a  power,  a  tendency,  conceived  of  very  indefinitely,  but 
moral  in  its  general  drift.  Now,  certainly  the  God  of  Israe" 
is  not  stated  in  terms  to  be  a  Person,  since  the  Hebrew 
language  contains  no  word  to  express  the  idea  of  Person  ir 
the  sense  of  a  self-conscious  and  self-determining  being 
The  idea  of  Personality,  as  it  has  been  elaborated  by  moden 
philosophy,  is  not  in  that  elaborated  form  recognised  ii 

1  Literature  and  Dogma,  by  Matthew  Arnold. 


The  Fall  of  Jericho, 


225 


Scripture ;  orthodoxy  is  not  concerned  to  invert  the 
listory  of  thought.  And  the  particular  sense1  in  which 
he  word  Person  is  applied  by  the  Church  to  Each  of 
he  Divine  Three,  Who  yet  are  One  in  the  Indivisible 
Substance  of  the  Godhead,  is  not  here  in  question.  But  if 
>y  Person  be  meant  a  union  of  consciousness,  will, 
md  character,  then  who  will  say  that  the  God  of  the 
Patriarchs,  the  God  of  the  Psalter,  the  God  of  Israel  in 
he  desert,  or  of  Israel  in  Canaan,  was  conceived  of  as  im- 
)ersonal,  or  as  lacking  any  one  of  these  ingredients  of 
jersonality.  Insert  the  definition,  "an  eternal  power  or 
tream  of  tendency,  not  ourselves,  making  for  righteousness," 
vherever  you  read  the  words  God  or  Lord  in  the  Psalter, 
md  see  what  will  be,  I  do  not  say  the  religious,  but  the 
ntellectual  outcome.  Suppose  for  a  moment  that  He 
»Vhom  Israel  owned  as  God  was  not  believed  to  be  endowed 
vith  consciousness  or  will;  how  are  we  to  explain  the 
ove  and  worship  of  which  He  was  the  object  ?  A  power 
>r  tendency  might  provoke  fear :  it  is  so  with  the  powers 
)f  the  physical  world.  If  such  a  power  were  believed  to 
>e  mind,  it  might,  as  in  Hindostan,  attract  long  and 
Ernest  meditation.  But  love  and  worship  are  offered 
>nly  to  a  Being  Who  is  presumed  to  be  conscious  of  the 
•ffering,  to  be  willing  to  receive  it,  to  be  of  a  certain 
haracter,  which  is  the  earnest  of  His  Will.  As  Strauss 
las  recently  observed,  there  can  be  no  doubt  of  the 
ntention  of  the  Old  Testament  to  represent  God  as  a 
Personal  Being ; 2  the  history  of  Israel  and  the  devotions 
'f  Israel  are  alike  conclusive  on  the  subject. 

Yes,  it  was  this  Unseen,  Almighty  Friend, — the  Friend  of 
heir  departed  ancestors  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob, — the 
nspirer  and  Guide  of  the  Great  Lawgiver  who  had  led 
hem  forth  from  the  furnace  of  Egyptian  slavery, — the 

1  This  would  perhaps  be  most  accurately  expressed  by  subsistentia. 

2  Der  Alte  und  der  Neue  Glanbe,  p.  104. 


226 


The  Fall  of  Jericho. 


[Serm 


Gracious  and  Awful  Being  Whom  they  had  alternately 
loved  and  feared,  neglected  and  served,  sought  and  forgotteD 
Who  was,  the  men  of  Israel  believed,  still  with  them.  The] 
were  entering  on  a  new  tract  of  their  history ;  they  wen 
face  to  face  with  the  resources  of  a  comparatively  ancien 
and  settled  civilization,  with  which  their  rude  experienci 
of  the  desert  ill  enabled  them  to  cope.  The  walls  anc 
gates  of  Jericho,  the  key  of  a  country  which  they  believec 
was  to  become  their  own,  frowned  down  on  their  anxieties 
and  they  could  but  turn  upwards  to  Him  "Who  had  mad< 
them  what  they  were.  In  the  words  of  one  of  the  late 
retrospective  Psalms,  He  had  "  divided  the  Red  Sea  in  tw< 
parts,  because  His  mercy  endureth  for  ever."  He  had  le( 
His  people  through  the  wilderness  ;  He  had  smitten  grea 
kings;  He  would  give  their  land  to  be  an  heritage  unt< 
Israel  His  servant.1  He,  at  once  the  Creator  of  th 
world,  and  the  Captain  and  Patron  of  Israel,  was  stil 
with  them  even  before  the  walls  of  Jericho:  He — Hi 
Presence,  His  Power,  His  Loving-kindness — was  the  objec 
of  their  faith. 

Certainly  the  word  faith  is  used  vaguely  enough  i: 
these  days ;  and  men  talk  of  faith  in  their  destiny,  faith  i 
the  future,  faith  in  a  cause  or  principle,  faith  in  progress 
faith  in  humanity.  If  these  phrases  are  taken  to  piece: 
they  will  be  found  to  mean  faith  in  a  will  that  can  brin 
to  pass  what  men  variously  conceive  to  be  the  highes 
good  in  the  coming  years.  We  Christians  enjoy  a  wide 
horizon  than  any  of  those  which  are  determined  by  th 
limits  of  sense  or  the  limits  of  time.  We  are  concerne 
not  merely  with  the  fortunes  of  our  race  on  this  plane 
but  with  the  destiny  of  its  individual  members  in  an  Etem 
"World.  For  us  the  Personal  God,  Who  has  revealed  Hin 
self  as  Threefold  in  His  Absolute  and  Unchanging  Bein, 
Who,  as  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost,  has  disclosed  H 

1  Ps.  cxxxvi.  13,  16,  17,  21,  22. 


[II.] 


The  Fall  of  Jericho. 


227 


?epest  and  most  important  relations  to  ourselves,  is  the 
>ject  of  all  that  deserves  the  name  of  faith.  His  word, 
hen  once  we  are  sure  that  it  is  His,  commands  our  unhesi- 
ting  submission.  If  we,  in  our  fashion  and  measure,  have 
ly  hopes  for  the  advance  of  truth  and  goodness ;  if,  amid 
ie  many  sinister  appearances  which  darken  the  higher 
:ospects  of  man,  we  still  cling  to  the  faith  that  in  the 
id  the  walls  of  Jericho  will  fall,  it  is  because  He,  as  we 
joice  to  know  and  believe,  is  with  us. 

II. 

"  By  faith  the  walls  of  Jericho  fell  down."  What  was 
ie  connection  between  Israel's  faith  in  his  Lord  and  the 
.11  of  the  walls  of  Jericho  ?  Simply  this  :  that  that  event 
apended  upon  Israel's  obedience  to  the  command  of  God. 
j  some  way  or  other  God  speaks  to  us  all.  He  speaks  to 
ae  generation  by  specific  and  external  communications,  to 
aother  by  the  pressure  of  its  recognised  principles  or  of 
s  conscience,  as  questions  of  conduct  successively  arise, 
lost  assuredly,  whether  to  instruct  or  rebuke,  whether  to 
istain  or  to  test  us,  He  leaves  not  Himself  without 
itness.  At  that  moment  of  solemn  anxiety,  Joshua  was 
acouraged  and  instructed  by  the  appearance  of  a  heavenly 
•ruide  in  the  precincts  of  the  camp  at  Gilgal. 1  The  sacred 
arrative  will  not  bear  the  gloss  that  this  appearance  was 
purely  internal  or  subjective  one  ;  a  visible  phenomenon 
f  some  kind  was  the  accredited  language,  so  to  call  it,  in 
'liich  these  primitive  generations  of  men  looked  for,  and 
iscovered  what  they  knew  of,  the  Will  of  God.  "  There 
tood  a  man  over  against  him  with  his  sword  drawn  in  his 
and."2  What  the  sight  of  the  Burning  Bush  had  been 
o  Moses  at  Horeb,  that  the  vision  of  the  Captain  of 
ae  hosts  of  the  Lord  was  to  Joshua  at  Gilgal.    In  each 

1  Josh.  v.  13-15.  2  Josh.  v.  13. 


228 


The  Fall  of  Jericho.  [Serb 


case  the  specific  character  of  the  vision  was  in  sympath 
with  the  circumstances  of  the  time.  The  furnace  of  th 
Egyptian  bondage  and  the  warlike  preparations  for  ti 
approaching  campaign,  are  reflected  in  the  forms  of  th 
respective  apparitions.  This  is  to  be  explained,  not  b 
supposing  that  men  externalize  and  divinize  their  ow 
hopes  or  fears,  clothing  them  in  the  garb  which  the 
thoughts  or  circumstances  suggest;  but  by  the  simpL 
and  truer  consideration  that  God  speaks  to  His  creaturt 
in  all  ages,  through  sights  and  sympathies  which  the 
most  readily  understand.  Was  the  mysterious  Being,  tl 
Malaach  Adonai,  Who  appears  so  constantly  in  the  ear] 
history  of  Israel,  and  Who  here  is  the  Prince  of  the  Am 
of  the  Lord,  a  created  Angel,  like  the  Michael  of  the  Boc 
of  Daniel  ?  Or  was  He  One  Who,  before  He  entered  by  8 
Incarnation  into  time,  had  been  already  the  instrume] 
of  communications  between  the  invisible  God  and  tl 
world  of  men  ?  Not  to  enter  on  this  difficult  question,  \ 
may  remark  that  upon  either  supposition  the  communicatk 
was  from  God :  and  that  it  made  a  serious  demand  up( 
the  faith  of  Israel.  For  seven  days  the  soldiers  of  Isra 
were  to  march  in  procession  round  the  city,  with  the  a: 
of  the  covenant,  and  with  seven  priests  blowing  trumpe 
before  the  ark.  They  were  to  complete  the  circuit  of  t 
city  once  in  every  day  until  the  seventh.1  On  the  seven 
day  they  were  to  march  round  Jericho  seven  times ;  t 
priests  were  to  blow  a  long  blast ;  the  people  were  to  rai 
a  loud  shout  of  war ;  the  walls  of  the  city  would  fall,  a] 
its  capture  follow. 

Now  these  directions  would  have  tested  the  faith 
Israel  in  two  particulars  more  especially. 

They  suggest,  first  of  all,  an  entire  inadequacy,  in  hum 
judgment,  of  means  to  ends.  We  can  trace  no  relati 
between  the  means  prescribed  and  the  end  proposed.  Wl: 

1  Josh.  vi.  3,  4. 


vl  I. ]  The  Fall  of  Jericho.  229 


.-as  the  end  proposed  ?  The  capture  of  Jericho ;  a  town 
trongly  fortified  after  the  fashion  of  that  age.  What  were 
lie  prescribed  means  ?  A  daily  procession  with  trumpets 
ound  the  walls  for  seven  days,  repeated  seven  times  on  the 
eventh.  Attempts  have  indeed  been  made  to  assign  a 
ailitary  value  to  this  procession  with  trumpets.  Thus 
iosenmiiller1  suggests  that  it  was  an  invitation  or  challenge 
0  the  terrified  citizens  to  make  a  sally,  and  so  to  en- 
leavour  to  take  the  besiegers  at  a  disadvantage.  But  this 
pinion  has  no  warrant  in  the  narrative,  and  it  would 
»e  condemned  by  ordinary  military  prudence.  Nor  can 
^e  suppose  that  Joshua's  design  was  to  lull  the  men  of 
ericho  into  a  false  security,  and  then  to  surprise  them, 
"he  walls  of  Jericho  were  not  first  mined  and  then  carried 
»y  storm ;  and  the  security  of  the  besieged,  if  it  ever  could 
lave  been  fostered  by  such  a  method,  would  surely  have 
)een  disturbed  by  the  sevenfold  repetition  of  the  procession 
»n  the  seventh  day  of  the  siege.  It  is  clear  that  the  pro- 
fession was  not  a  military  measure ;  its  meaning  was 
iltogether  religious.  The  Book  of  Numbers  had  already 
issigned  a  specific  religious  value  to  the  use  of  the  trumpet 
)y  the  people  of  the  theocracy : 2  it  was  a  symbolical 
vyrie  Eleison,  by  which  Israel  claimed  the  mercy  and 
he  aid  of  God.  The  purpose  of  the  proceedings  before 
Tericho  was  to  repeat  the  lesson  which  had  been  taught 
jo  vividly  by  the  circumstances  of  the  Exodus ;  to  check 
)he  habit,  so  deeply  rooted  in  the  race,  of  trusting  in  the 
risible  and  the  material,  in  what  the  Scriptures  call  "  an 
urn  of  flesh  ;"  to  throw  them  back  upon  their  Gracious  and 
Unseen  Protector,  and  to  convince  them,  by  the  very  form 
jf  their  triumph,  that  the  work  was  His. 

The  apparent  disproportion  or  absence  of  any  traceable 
relations  between  means  and  ends  in  the  kingdom  of  God 
has  in  all  ages  proved  a  serious  trial  of  faith.  Think 

1  Scholia  in  Vet.  Test,  pars  undecima,  p.  82.  2  Numb.  x.  9. 


230 


The  Fall  of  Jericho.  [Serm. 


steadily  of  the  magnificent  object  which  the  Church  of  God 
sets  before  herself ;  it  is  not  merely  the  instruction  and 
elevation  of  the  human  race,  but  the  eternal  salvation  of 
souls.    Yet  how  feeble  and  unworthy  seems  her  machinery 
for  effecting  it !    The  "  foolishness  of  preaching  "  does  not 
less  accurately  express  the  opinion  of  a  large  section 
of  the  modern  world  than  it  did  that  of  the  Corinthian 
critics  who  discussed  St.  Paul."1    How,  men  ask,  can  the 
perpetual  repetition  and  enforcement  of  a  few  doctrines, 
of  a  few  precepts,  of  a  Great  Example,  effect  the  result 
of  lifting  the  world  off  its  axis,  and  giving  a  new  direc- 
tion to  the  lives  of  men  ?     How  should  the  Christian 
Sacraments   achieve   more  than  any  other  picturesque 
and  affectionate  memorials  of  the  past  ?    How  can  a  few 
drops  of  water,  or  a  little  bread   and  wine,  be  the 
channels  or  the  veils  of  a  Heavenly  Gift  warranted 
to  cleanse  the  sinful  and  to  reinvigorate  the  weak?  Or 
to  what  hands  has  the  burden  of  the  Apostolical  charge 
been  again  and  again  committed  in  all  ages  of  the  Church : 
to  what  hands,  it  may  indeed  well  be  asked,  when 
the  drift  and  purpose  of  the  commission  is  considered; 
"  Side  by  side,"  it  has  been  said,  "  with  the  Cyprians,  the 
Augustines,  the  Chrysostoms,  the  Gregories, — side  by  side 
with  an  Andrewes,  a  Ken,  a  Wilson, — the  Church  hat 
witnessed  an  Episcopate  presenting  the  most  various  mora, 
complexions  ;  the  Papacy  alone  has  exhibited  every  grada- 
tion of  moral  life,  from  angelic  holiness  to  outrageou; 
wickedness ;  and  the  typical  prelates  of  our  Eevolution  an( 
of  the  early  Hanoverian  period  had  their  prototypes  amon< 
courtly  and  selfish  ecclesiastics  who  once  cringed  on  th< 
steps  of  the  throne  of  Constantinople." 

This  trial  to  faith  is  probably  as  old  as  Christianity ;  bu 
it  is  only  one  department  of  a  larger  perplexity  suggests 
by  the  whole  action  and  bearing  of  the  Church  of  Christ 
1  i  Cor.  i.  21. 


XILj 


The  Fall  of  Jericho. 


231 


.4s  she  moves  through,  the  centuries,  on  her  errand  of 
ruth  and  mercy,  yet  maimed  through  internal  divisions, 
yt  weighed  down  to  the  very  dust  by  worldliness  and 
corruptions,  men  ask  if  this  can  be  the  Divine  Society 
which,  for  eighteen  centuries,  has  been  attempting  to 
regenerate  the  world,  and  which  has  not  altogether  failed 
:n  her  mission.  What  is  the  historical  manifestation  of 
Christianity  but  one  long  procession  around  the  walls  of 
Jericho,  in  which  the  means  employed  seem  to  be  altogether 
.mequal  to  achieving  that  which  nevertheless  they  do  in  a 
aieasure  achieve  ?  What  is  it  but  a  prolonged  contrast  be- 
tween the  ideal  and  the  actual,  between  the  anticipated  and 
the  real  ?  That  traceable  order  and  proportion  of  cause  and 
affect,  that  array  of  powerful  influences  and  of  commanding 
personages  who  achieve  striking  and  magnificent  results  in 
the  field  of  secular  history,  seems  constantly  to  be  want- 
ing in  the  history  of  the  Church,  which  thus  presents  us 
with  a  continual  paradox,  that  we  may  look  for  its  explana- 
tion beyond  the  realm  of  sense.  Yes ;  now,  as  at  the  first, 
"  God  hath  chosen  the  foolish  things  of  the  world  to  confound 
the  wise :  and  God  hath  chosen  the  weak  things  of  the 
world  to  confound  the  things  which  are  mighty:  and  base 
things  of  the  world,  and  things  which  are  despised,  hath 
God  chosen,  yea,  and  things  which  are  not,  to  bring  to 
nought  things  that  are:"  and  why?  "That  no  flesh  should 
glory  in  His  presence."1 

Besides  this,  the  faith  of  Israel  was  tried  by  the  delay 
which  was  to  be  interposed  between  the  first  procession 
around  the  city  and  its  final  capture.  If  such  a  plan  of 
operations  were  adopted,  why  should  it  not  take  effect  at 
once  ?  The  walls  would  not  really  be  more  shaken  by  the 
procession  on  the  seventh  day  than  by  the  procession  on 
the  first.  Meanwhile,  how  difficult  it  would  be  to  carry  out 
such  instructions  for  six  days  without  any  result.    It  does 

1  1  Cor.  i.  27-29. 


232 


The  Fall  of  Jericho.  [Serm. 


not  seem  long  for  us ;  but,  depend  upon  it,  for  men  who 
were  face  to  face  with  an  uncertain  future  and  a  great  peril, 
the  days,  the  hours,  the  minutes  did  seem  long.  When  the 
second  day  had  passed,  and  the  third,  and  the  fourth,  and 
the  fifth,  and  still  the  walls  of  Jericho  stood  as  they  had 
stood  for  years,  do  you  suppose  that  there  was  no  addi- 
tional temptation  to  question  the  wisdom  of  the  method 
which  had  been  prescribed  to  Joshua  ?  You  cannot  sup- 
pose it. 

This  delay  of  expected  and  warranted  results,  when  the 
conditions  which  ought  to  ensure  them  have  been  complied 
with,  even  though  it  be  a  delay  which  is  itself  predicted, 
is  to  many  minds  one  of  the  sorest  trials  that  faith  has  to 
encounter.  Not  to  go  further  for  illustrations,  did  those 
three  centuries,  think  you,  which  intervened  between 
Pentecost  and  the  Edict  of  Milan  seem  a  short  interval  to 
the  generations  who  lived  and  died,  one  after  another,  in 
the  belief  that  when  persecution  had  done  its  worst,  the 
meek  would  inherit  the  earth,  and  would  be  refreshed  in 
the  multitude  of  peace  ? 1  Did  the  cry  "  How  long,  0  Lord, 
how  long  ? "  never  under  the  stress  of  persecution  shade 
off  into  "  Thou  hast  abhorred  and  forsaken  Thine  Anointed, 
and  art  displeased  at  him :  Thou  hast  broken  the  covenant 
of  Thy  servant,  and  cast  his  crown  to  the  ground?"2 
Was  the  old  temptation '  of  Israel  never  repeated,  never 
yielded  to  in  the  heart  of  Christendom;  the  temptation 
to  think  that  God  had  forgotten  to  be  gracious,  and  had 
shut  up  His  loving-kindness  in  displeasure ; 3  that  the 
Church  had  been  led  out  to  die  in  a  social  wilderness,  and 
had  better  turn  back  to  Egypt  ?  How  many  of  Christ's 
early  worshippers  may,  like  Demas,  have  failed  under  that 
temptation,  One  only  knows.  It  is  not  for  us  to  underrate 
trials  which,  through  God's  mercy,  we  have  never  experi- 
enced;  but  the  delay  of  Christ's  triumph  must  have 

1  Pa.  xxxvii.  u.      2  Rev.  vi.  io.    Ps.  Ixxxix.  37,  38.      3  Ps.  lxxvii.  9. 


XI L]  The  Fall  of  Jericho. 


weighed  heavily  on  our  forefathers  in  the  faith.  Again 
and  again  the  walls  of  the  old  heathen  society  were  nod- 
ding to  their  fall ;  again  and  again  it  seemed  as  if  Jericho 
must  presently  capitulate, — when  lo  !  the  hope  proved  an 
illusion.  After  Philip  the  Arabian  came  Decius;  after 
Probus,  Diocletian.  "  Hope  deferred  maketh  the  heart 
sick;"1  and  one  of  faith's  highest  and  hardest  duties  is  to 
sustain  hope  wdien  its  fulfilment  is  delayed,  even  though  in 
accordance  with  previous  intimations. 


III. 

"  By  faith  the  walls  of  Jericho  fell  down."  Faith, 
then,  is  a  power.  She  plants  her  foot  upon  a  sure  founda- 
tion; she  grapples  with  her  difficulties,  and,  in  the  end, 
she  conquers.  It  is  not  to  be  imagined  that  the  faith  of 
Israel  exercised  over  the  material  Avails  of  Jericho  any 
compulsion  of  a  magnetic  character  which  they  could  not 
but  obey.  If  the  triumphs  claimed  for  faith  in  removing 
human  disease  or  suffering  should  hereafter  be  explained 
by  reference  to  some  unsuspected  natural  law,  which  faith 
has  only  brought  into  active  play,  we  need  not  fear  to 
welcome  the  discovery.  But  at  least  the  fall  of  the  walls 
of  Jericho,  and  a  large  proportion  of  the  Gospel  miracles, 
would  be  totally  unaffected  by  it.  Again,  there  is  no 
ground  for  supposing  that  the  walls  were  mined,  and  that 
they  fell  at  a  preconcerted  signal.  It  is  possible  that  their 
fall  was  due  to  the  shock  of  an  earthquake.  But  if  this  be 
assumed,  we  still  have  to  account  for  the  occurrence  of  the 
catastrophe  at  a  predicted  point  of  time,  and  at  the 
apparent  escape  of  the  buildings  wuthin  the  city  from  the 
effects  of  the  shock.  Upon  any  supposition,  the  agency  of 
faith  on  this  occasion  was  limited  to  its  determined  reliance 
and  hold  upon  the  unseen  agency  of  God,  Who,  whether 

1  Prov.  xiii.  12. 


234  The  Fall  of  Jericho.  [See:j. 

through  some  natural  law  or  independently,  effected  the 
downfall  of  the  walls.  The  power  of  faith  is  the  same ;  if 
it  does  not  itself  act,  it  accepts  the  conditions  of  action 
which  are  prescribed  by  the  real  Agent ;  it  thereby,  we 
may  dare  to  say  it,  puts  His  Arm  in  motion ;  it  acts — but 
through  Him. 

There  is  another  reason  for  the  power  of  faith.  It  is  the 
parent  of  two  of  the  greatest  forces  that  can  move  the 
human  soul ;  it  produces  hope  and  trust.  The  man  who 
believes  can  trust:  his  faith  sees  God,  and  that  sight 
creates  confidence.  The  man  who  trusts  can  ignore  or 
resist  present  and  visible  danger,  through  his  clear  per- 
ception of  an  Unseen  Protector ;  and  his  trust  is,  of  itself, 
a  force,  whether  for  purposes  of  action  or  purposes  of 
resistance.  It  has  been  said  that  the  strength  of  an  army 
is  more  than  doubled  when  it  has  general  confidence  in 
its  commander.  To  trust  in  a  great  power  is  to  share 
its  strength.  The  success  of  every  enterprise  depends 
mainly  on  the  belief  that  it  will  be  achieved :  and  when 
the  present  offers  nothing  but  materials  for  discourage- 
ment, hope  comes  to  the  aid  of  trust,  and  transfigures 
the  present  before  our  eyes  with  the  enthusiasms  of  the 
future.  And  thus  out  of  weakness  men  and  women  are 
made  strong ;  and  many  a  feeble  Christian  has  felt,  in  the 
strength  of  this  moral  irivigoration,  of  which  faith  is  the 
source,  as  he  resolutely  takes  the  difficult  line  of  painful 
or  unwelcome  duty,  that 

"  Si  fractus  illabatur  orbis 
Impavidum  ferient  ruinae." 

For  to  him  it  has  been  said, "  If  thou  canst  believe,  all  things 
are  possible  to  him  that  believeth,"1  even  through  these 
magnificent  endowments  of  hope  and  trust ;  and  he,  in  his 
consciousness  of  mingled  strength  and  weakness,  cannot 


1  St.  Mark  ix.  23. 


XII.] 


The  Fall  of  Jericho. 


235 


but  answer,  "  I  will  not  trust  in  my  bow ;  it  is  not  my 
sword  that  shall  help  me ;  but  it  is  Thou  that  savest  us 
from  our  enemies,  and  puttest  them  to  confusion  that  hate 
us."  1 

Yes ;  faith  is  power.  And  we  of  this  day  who  have  so 
largely  impaired  or  lost  it  must  feel  that  we  are  wTeaker 
and  poorer  for  the  loss.  It  may  be  that  the  scepticism  which 
has  played  so  relentlessly  over  the  Creed  of  our  fathers, 
and  whose  brilliant  sallies  have  seldom  been  held  in  check 
by  any  profound  moral  seriousness,  has  left  us  with  keener 
wits  than  we  might  otherwise  have  possessed.  But  it  has 
also  left  us  weaker.  We  are  not  the  men  wre  might 
have  been,  or  the  men  we  were.  Do  you  say  that  it 
is  the  jaundiced  eye  of  theology  which  thus  reads  the 
moral  symptoms  of  the  time  ?  Listen,  then,  to  a  great 
writer  who  has  lately  passed  from  among  us,  and  who 
will  not  be  suspected  of  any  undue  tenderness  for  the 
Christian  Creed.  "  Energetic  characters,"  says  Mr.  Mill, 
"  on  any  large  scale  are  becoming  merely  traditional.  There 
is  now  scarcely  any  outlet  for  energy  in  this  country,  except 
business.  The  energy  expended  in  this  may  still  be  re- 
garded as  considerable.  What  little  is  left  from  that 
employment  is  expended  on  some  hobby ;  which  may  be 
a  useful,  even  a  philanthropic  hobby,  but  is  always  some 
one  thing,  and  generally  a  thing  of  small  dimensions.  The 
greatness  of  England  is  now  all  collective:  individually  small, 
we  only  appear  capable  of  anything  great  by  our  habit  of 
combining ;  and  with  this,"  he  adds,  not  quite  accurately, 
P  our  moral  and  religious  philanthropists  are  perfectly  con- 
tented. But  it  was  men  of  another  stamp  than  this  that 
made  England  what  it  has  been;  and  men  of  another 
stamp  will  be  needed  to  prevent  its  decline." 2  The  writer 
of  course  has  his  own  way  of  accounting  for  what  he  thus 
describes :  with  him  it  is  only  the  sacrifice  of  all  marked 
1  Ps.  xliv.  7,  8.  2  On  Liberty,  pp.  125,  126. 


236 


The  Fall  of  Jericho.  [Serm. 


individuality  to  the  ever-encroaching  tyranny  of  society 
and  its  conventionalisms.  But  why  is  there  not  force 
enough  in  individuals  to  resist  the  encroachment  ?  Is  it 
not  because  the  secret  and  parent  of  the  highest  force 
has  been  so  largely  forfeited  ?  The  men  who  made  England 
what  it  has  been  were  men  of  faith.  The  great  Plantagenet 
kings  and  statesmen  had  a  faith,  which,  if,  as  we  hold, 
not  free  from  error,  was  at  least  clear  and  strong.  The 
Puritans  of  the  seventeenth  century  had  a  faith, — 
narrow,  it  is  true,  mutilated,  distorted;  but  it  too  was 
clear  and  strong.  Yet  not  a  few  of  the  men  who  would 
now  mould  the  thought  and  destinies  of  England  plainly 
say  that  they  have  no  faith — only  views  and  aspirations. 
"  We  laugh,"  says  the  author  of  the  "  Enigmas  of  Life," 
"  at  the  scholastic  nonsense  of  Irenaius,  and  are  disgusted 
at  the  unseemly  violence  of  Tertullian ;  but  these  men 
were  ready  to  die  for  their  opinions,  and  ive  are  not"1 
Yes,  the  scepticism  of  our  day,  speaking  through  its  most 
accomplished  representatives,  betrays  a  consciousness  of  its 
impoverishment :  it  knows  and  feels  that  God,  in  His  Mercy 
and  in  His  Justice,  has  stricken  it  with  moral  paralysis. 
And  yet  we  are  moving  on  towards  a  period  when  the 
strongest  moral  energies  will  be  at  least  as  necessary  as  they 
have  ever  been  in  the  past.  The  European  revolutions  of 
the  beginning  of  the  century  turned  chiefly,  although  not 
solely,  upon  the  structure  of  government ;  the  revolutionary 
movements  of  its  close,  we  need  no  prophet  to  tell  us, 
will  be  animated  by  those  fiercer  passions  which  are 
kindled  by  questions  of  social  right.  All  the  devotion, 
the  unselfishness,  the  intrepidity,  that  could  be  forthcoming 
under  the  most  favourable  circumstances  will  be  needed 
in  order  to  surmount  these  perils  with  safety  and  honour; 
the  walls  of  Jericho  will  not  fall  down  at  the  bidding  of 
sentiment  which  has  lost  all  moral  nerve,  and  has  forfeited 

1  Enigmas  of  Life,  by  W.  E.  Greg,  p.  163. 


XIL] 


The  Fall  of  Jericho. 


237 


all  right  to  the  name  of  faith.  And  it  lies  with  yon,  my 
younger  brethren,  to  decide  whether  the  productive  cause 
of  the  highest  moral  force  shall  be  there,  and  equal  to  the 
emergency. 

IV. 

In  dealing  with  the  particular  subject  of  to-day's  sermon, 
missionary  statistics  are  less  likely  to  be  useful  than  a 
restatement  of  principles  on  which  missions  must  rely  for 
success.  We  live  in  days  when  the  duty  of  extending 
the  Church  of  Christ  is  vehemently  disputed;  when  the 
difficulties  of  extending  it  are  greatly  exaggerated ;  when 
the  final  failure  of  our  attempts  to  Christianize  the  greatest 
of  our  dependencies  is  confidently  predicted. 

The  duty  of  extending  the  Church  of  Christ  cannot  be 
a  serious  question  between  Christian  and  Christian ;  it  can 
only  be  a  question  between  Christianity  and  unbelief.  It 
is  part  of  that  larger  problem,  whether  Christianity  is  worth 
the  trouble  and  expense  which  its  propagation  entails; 
whether  it  is  really  what,  in  the  writings  of  St.  Paul 
especially,  it  claims  to  be,  the  absolute  and  therefore  the 
iiniversal  Religion  needed  by  man,  of  whatever  race,  or  in 
whatever  stage  of  civilization;  and  needed  in  order  to  enable 
man  to  realize  the  true  idea  and  end  of  his  existence.  We 
are  not  to-day  discussing  that  vital  question :  we  take  the 
Christian  solution  of  it  for  granted.  Only  let  those  who 
dispute  our  conclusion  mark  well  the  premiss  on  which  it 
rests,  and  which  must  be  set  aside  in  order  to  dispute  it 
successfully.  My  brethren,  if  it  be  true  that  God  has  so 
loved  the  world  that  He  gave  His  Only  Begotten  Son,  that 
whosoever  believeth  on  Him  should  not  perish,  but  have 
everlasting  life ;  if  Jesus  our  Lord  is  not  merely  a  literary 
study,  but  a  living  Being ;  if  His  Holy  Incarnation,  His 
Atoning  Death,  His  Perpetual  Intercession,  His  Gifts  of 


23S 


1  he  rail  oj  Jericho. 


Grace,  are  real  things  upon  which  we  have  staked  our 
deepest  hopes  and  our  best  activities, — there  can  be  no 
doubt  as  to  the  practical  interest  which  we  must  take  in 
the  extension  of  His  Church.  To  every  Christian,  Christ 
gives  a  commission  to  do  what  he  can,  in  his  sphere  and 
measure,  for  the  spread  of  the  Faith.  To  Englishmen  He 
has  given  the  responsibilities  of  empire,  and  among  them  its 
highest  responsibility — that  of  doing  the  best  thing  that  can 
be  done  for  the  largest  possible  number  of  human  beings. 
Colonists  who  have  left  a  Christian  home  and  friends;  and 
heathens,  who  have  been  brought  under  the  sway  of  a 
power  which  owns,  however  inconsistently,  the  Name  of 
Christ,  have  alike  a  claim  on  His  Church  which  she 
cannot  disown.  The  true  Captain  of  the  Lord's  Host, 
revealing  Himself  amid  the  providences  of  our  national 
history,  appears  once  more  to  true  hearts  in  Israel  near  the 
camp  at  Gilgal,  and  points  to  the  duties  which  await  them 
beneath  the  walls  of  Jericho. 

To  make  the  Church  of  Christ  co-extensive  with  the 
dependencies  of  this  Empire  may  appear,  at  first  sight,  a 
hopeless  enterprise.  Doubtless  much  may  be  done  in  those 
.colonies  to  which  our  civilization  has  been  transplanted 
from  home  almost  in  its  integrity ;  or  where  we  come  into 
contact  with  pagan  religions  of  such  low,  embryonic,  un- 
formed, and  fluctuating  types,  that  no  more  serious  resist- 
ance is  offered  to  the  advance  of  the  Church  than  to 
other  features  of  European  thought  and  life.  In  South 
Africa,  for  instance,  as  beyond  the  Atlantic,  and  in  Australia, 
the  difficulties  of  the  Church,  in  the  main,  are  those  which 
she  encounters  at  home ;  they  arise  from  the  divisions  of 
Christians,  or  from  the  godlessness  and  indifference  of  large 
sections  of  a  commercial  and  materialized  community.  But 
in  India  it  is  far  otherwise.  There  we  meet  with  religions 
which  were  ancient  in  days  when  Christianity  was  not  yet 
born  ;  with  religions  which,  like  Brahminism,  have  lost  and 


XII.]  The  Fall  of  Jericho.  239 

regained  their  empire,  or  which,  like  Islam,  have  wrenched 
from  the  Church  of  Christ  her  most  ancient  home,  the 
hallowed  centre  of  her  most  cherished  memories,  the  scenes 
of  her  earliest  triumphs.  And  too  often  our  missionaries 
have  represented  not  our  strength  but  our  weakness,  as 
they  have  gone  forth  to  grapple  with  these  mighty 
traditions  of  error,  embodied  in  vast  literatures,  defended 
and  propagated  by  immense  organizations,  pressing  a  subtle 
philosophy,  or  all  that  is  popular  and  concrete  in  human 
superstition,  into  their  service ;  and  we  naturally  marvel 
at  an  enterprise  which  seems,  at  first  sight,  to  be  so 
hopelessly  out  of  proportion  to  the  proposed  results.  Some- 
thing, indeed,  may  be  done — is  being  done — to  diminish  the 
interval.  Christian  missionaries,  who,  with  the  learning 
and  frankness  of  the  Alexandrian  teachers  of  old,  can  recog- 
nise in  ancient  religions  those  stray  elements  of  truth 
which  in  fact  constitute  their  strength,  will  find  that  one 
great  barrier  has  disappeared.  And  Christian  bishops,  who 
should  organize  a  native  ministry,  and  with  it  a  vernacular 
liturgy  of  Indian  growth,  would  probably  demolish  another. 
If  the  object  be  to  extend  the  Church  of  Christ,  with  all 
that  is  really  essential  to  the  tradition  of  the  Faith  and  the , 
Sacraments,  but  not  necessarily  with  all  the  forms  and 
associations  which  for  a  thousand  years  have  encrusted 
that  tradition  in  Western  Christendom,  then  sooner  or  later 
this  problem  must  be  considered.  Certainly  it  is  impro- 
bable that  a  liturgy  which  is  so  dear  to  ourselves,  because 
it  is  the  outgrowth  of  our  spiritual  and  national  history, 
and  which  bears  on  its  front  not  a  few  traces  of  our  Saxon 
temper,  should  ever  be  regarded,  on  the  banks  of  the  Indus 
and  the  Ganges,  at  least  by  the  people  at  large,  as  other 
than  an  exotic.  Points  like  these  may  safely  be  left 
in  the  hands  of  the  prelates  who  now  rule  the  Indian 
Church,  and  who  have  brought  to  their  work  a  union 
of  religious  fervour  and  philosophical  insight  from  which 


240 


me  rau  oj  fericno. 


|_bERM. 


the  happiest  results  may  be  expected. 1  Surely  the  efforts 
of  such  meu  might  be  reinforced  more  largely  than  they 
are,  not  merely  by  clergy,  but  by  the  many  laymen 
who,  whether  in  the  civil  service  or  in  the  army, 
pass  the  best  years  of  their  life  in  India,  and  who 
prepare  for  those  years  not  unfrequently  at  Oxford.  If 
I  am  speaking  to  any  such,  I  would  beg  them  to  remember 
that  Christianity  is  judged  in  India  as  in  Europe,  not  so 
much  by  the  arguments  of  its  professional  advocates,  as  by 
the  lives  of  the  great  mass  of  its  professed  adherents ;  that 
laymen  have  it  in  their  power  to  raise  barriers  to  its  advance 
among  the  heathen,  which  no  clerical  or  missionary  zeal 
can  hope  to  surmount;  and  that  laymen  have  it  also  in 
their  power  to  recommend  Christianity,  by  word  and  ex- 
ample, with  a  success  which  too  often  is  denied  to  clergymen, 
however  earnest  or  instructed.  A  layman  has  not  to  struggle 
against  the  rooted  suspicion  which  is  so  often  fatal  to 
clerical  enterprise,  and  which  constitutes  the  only  serious 
"  clerical  disability ;" — the  suspicion  that  what  he  says  for 
Jesus  Christ  our  Lord  is  only  the  language  of  professional 
propriety,  and  not  that  of  personal  conviction.  It  would 
be  wrong  to  pretend  that  this  suspicion  is  invincible,  or 
that  it  is  not  counterbalanced  by  the  immense  religious 
opportunities  of  clerical  service.  Yet  those  of  you  who 
have  not  to  encounter  it  should  know  your  strength. 

When  all  have  done  what  they  may,  no  doubt  it  will  still 
seem  that  we  are  making  a  procession  with  trumpets ;  that 
the  means  at  our  disposal  are  unequal,  on  every  ordinary 
principle  of  calculation,  to  achieving  the  end  proposed. 
Jericho  will  still  seem  inaccessible  to  our  efforts ;  and  those 
efforts  will  be  criticised  almost  in  the  terms  in  which  some 
recent  writers  comment  on  the  text  of  Joshua.  The  Church 
of  Christ  can  never  expect  to  escape  such  criticism:  let 

1  The  allusion  is  especially  to  Dr.  Milman,  Bishop  of  Calcutta,  and 
Dr.  Douglas,  Bishop  of  Bombay. 


XII. 


The  Fall  of  Jericho. 


241 


her  never  fear  it.  She  may  be  unable  to  trace  the  process 
by  which  ultimate  success  will  be  secured ;  but  does  this 
matter,  if  He  be  near  to  Whom  the  coming  centuries  are 
already  present,  and  Whose  word  is  sure  ?  She  may  have 
to  encounter  many  disappointments,  much  delay,  abundant 
presages  of  failure.  But  he  that  belie veth  will  not  make 
haste:1  a  Christian  knows  his  portion,  and  is  not  dis- 
heartened by  anything  but  his  own  unfaithfulness.  God, 
he  knows,  is  patient,  as  being  Eternal :  duties  are  impera- 
tive ;  results  are  in  wise  and  strong  Hands ;  we  can  afford 
to  wait.  "  The  vision  is  yet  for  an  appointed  time ;  but 
at  the  end  it  shall  speak  and  not  lie :  though  it  tarry,  wait 
for  it ;  because  it  will  surely  come,  it  will  not  tarry."  2 

1  Isa.  xxviii.  1 6.  8  Hab.  ii.  3. 


Q 


SERMON  XIII. 


THE  COUEAGE  OF  FAITH. 
Rom.  i.  1 6. 

/  am  not  ashamed  of  the  Gospel  of  Christ ;  for  it  is  the  power  of  God  unto 
salvation  to  every  one  that  helieveth. 

IN  days  that  have  passed  away,  such  a  subject  as  "  the 
extension  of  the  Church  throughout  the  colonies  and 
dependencies  of  the  British  Empire  "  would  probably  have 
suggested  questions  of  one  kind  only.  It  would  have  been 
generally  agreed  that  such  an  extension  is  desirable; 
and  any  possible  discussion  would  have  turned  upon  the 
best  means  of  carrying  it  out.  In  these  latter  days,  as  we 
know,  it  is  somewhat  otherwise.  Propose  to  propagate 
the  Gospel,  and  to  extend  its  concrete  embodiment,  the 
Church,  and  you  raise  in  certain  minds  the  previous 
inquiry,  whether  the  Gospel  or  the  Church  are  worth  the 
effort.  In  former  days,  it  was  a  question  of  the  minor 
premiss  alone,  now  it  is  a  question  of  the  major.  Then 
men  asked  how  they  could  do  least  wrong  to  a  great  con- 
viction ;  whereas  now,  some  of  us  seem  to  doubt  whether 
or  not,  in  the  Apostle's  language,  to  be  "  ashamed  "  of  it. 

St.  Paul  is  led  to  use  this  expression  by  an  association 
of  ideas  which  it  is  easy  to  trace.  He  is  writing  to  a 
Church,  founded  by  other  hands  than  his,  founded,  it  would 
seem,  some  years  before,  but  by  no  Apostle  or  Apostolic 
man.    As  befits  an  Apostle,  he  yearns  to  visit  this  Church 


The  Courage  of  Faith. 


243 


that  he  may  impart  to  it  some  spiritual  gift.1  He  has 
desired  to  visit  it  long  ere  now ;  but  again  and  again 
lie  lias  been  hindered.2  He  still  hopes  some  day  to 
carry  out  this  purpose.3  For  he  has  in  his  keeping  a 
truth,  which,  as  he  believes,  belongs  by  right  to  every 
human  being,  although  as  yet  only  a  few  members  of  the 
great  human  family  have  claimed  it  as  their  own.  He, 
for  his  part,  is,  in  his  own  words,  a  debtor  until  all  rights 
are  satisfied ;  and  his  creditors  comprise  the  world.  "  I 
am  a  debtor,"  he  exclaims,  "  both  to  the  Greeks  and  to  the 
barbarians,  both  to  the  philosophers  and  the  unintelligent."4 
Therefore  he  must  do  what  he  may  do,  always  and  every- 
where. Therefore  he  will  add,  "As  much  as  in  me  is,  I  am 
ready  to  preach  the  Gospel  to  you  that  are  in  Eorae  also."5 

In  Eome  also  !  It  might  seem  as  if  a  word  had  escaped 
him  which,  even  for  an  Apostle,  had  some  disturbing — 
I  had  almost  dared  to  say — some  magic  power.  For 
here,  suddenly,  his  thought  takes  a  new  direction  and  a 
wider  range.  In  Eome  also !  The  little  half-organized 
Church  disappears  from  view,  and  before  the  imagination 
and  mind  of  Paul  there  rises — indistinct,  no  doubt,  but 
oppressively  vast — the  imperial  form  of  the  mistress  of 
the  world.  And  this  vision  of  Eome,  thus  for  the  moment 
present  to  the  Apostle's  mind,  produces  in  it  a  momentary 
recoil ;  so  that,  like  a  man  whose  onward  course  has  been 
sharply  checked,  he  falls  back  to  consider  the  resources  at  his 
disposal.  He  falls  back  upon  himself,  upon  the  faith  that  is 
in  him,  upon  the  Author  and  Object  of  that  faith.  There  is 
a  moment's  pause,  and  then  he  writes,  "  I  am  not  ashamed." 
If  he  were  speaking  he  might  almost  seem  to  falter  in  his 
tone ;  "  I  am  not  ashamed  of  the  Gospel  of  Christ," 

He  is  not  ashamed  of  the  Gospel.  We  are  struck  at 
first  by  the  reserved  and  negative  phrase ;  it  seems  to  fall 
below  the  requirements  of  the  occasion,  and  the  character 

1  Rom.  i.  11.    2  Rom>  1  I3<    3  j>om>  1  l5i    *  £um>  1  I4>    3Eom.  i.  15. 


244 


The  Courage  of  Faith. 


[Serm. 


of  the  man.  Is  this,  we  ask,  the  language  of  passionate 
feeling,  so  strong  that  it  shrinks  from  the  attempt  to  say 
what  it  is,  and  ventures  only  to  say  what  it  is  not  ?  Or 
is  there  some  subtle  irony,  flavouring  the  phrase  that  seems 
thus  to  disappoint  us  ?  No,  this  cannot  be.  Putting  other 
considerations  aside,  this  mood  is  inconsistent  with  what 
those  who  know  him  best  would  anticipate  from  the 
simplicity,  the  sincerity  of  the  Apostle's  literary  manner. 
And  yet,  if  we  understand  him  literally,  how  is  this  mere 
negative  state  of  feeling  equal  to  the  desire  which  burns 
within  him,  or  worthy  of  his  past  and  present  relations 
to  the  Gospel  of  his  Lord  and  Master  ? 

Certainly,  brethren,  elsewhere  the  Apostle  uses  very 
different  language  from  this.  He  loves  to  call  the  Gospel, 
as  the  Jews  called  their  law,  his  "  boast."  Consider  only 
one  sentence,  in  his  Epistle  to  the  Philippians,  in  which  he 
states  positively  what  the  Faith  of  Jesus  Christ  was  to 
him.  "  I  count  all  things  but  loss  for  the  excellency 
of  the  knowledge  of  Christ  Jesus  my  Lord,  for  Whom  I 
have  suffered  the  loss  of  all  things,  and  do  count  them 
but  dung,  that  I  may  win  Christ,  and  be  found  in  Him."1 

And  yet,  ten  years  later,  quite  at  the  close  of  his  great 
career,  when  he  now  knows  Eome  well,  by  a  first  and  a 
second  imprisonment,  when  the  last  scenes  are  now  almost 
in  view — the  tyrant's  throne,  the  accusation  and  the  defence 
the  solemn  travesty  of  justice,  and  the  sharp  suffering 
beyond — he  writes  to  a  disciple,  "  I  am  not  ashamed :  foi 
I  know  Whom  I  have  believed,  and  am  persuaded  tha 
He  is  able  to  keep  that  which  I  have  committed  unto  Hin 
against  that  day."2 

The  truth  is  that  the  Apostle  is  not  using  a  rhetorica 
figure;  his  negative  and  measured  phrase  is  imposed  01 
him  by  the  thoughts  which  rise  before  him.  He  is  con 
fronted  by  the  idea  of  Pagan  Eome ;  he  is  making  hea( 

1  Phil.  iii.  8,  9.  2  2  Tim.  i.  12. 


XIII.]  The  Courage  of  Faith,  245 

against  and  resisting  a  feeling  which  threatens  to  overawe 
him;  and  it  is  in  this  travail  of  protest  and  disavowal 
that  he  cries,  "  I  am  not  ashamed  of  the  Gospel  of  Christ." 

Why,  we  may  ask,  should  he  be  ashamed  of  it  ?  What 
was  there  in  the  prospect  of  a  missionary  visit  to  Eome 
which  could,  even  for  a  moment,  suggest  any  feeling  of 
the  kind  to  such  a  soul  as  St.  Paul's  ? 


L 

Would  not  a  man  have  been  struck  first  of  all  by 
the  apparent  insignificance  of  the  Gospel,  when  viewed 
relatively  to  the  great  world  of  thought  and  action  repre- 
sented by  and  embodied  in  Eome  ? 

That  which  impressed  every  subject  of  the  Empire  when 
his  thoughts  turned  towards  Eome,  was  its  unrivalled 
grandeur.  The  very  name  of  Eome  was  the  symbol  of 
magnificence  and  power.  For  Eome  was  the  seat  of 
empire;  the  city  which  had  conquered  and  which  ruled 
the  world.  Eome  was  the  centre  of  society ;  she  welcomed 
to  her  receptions  all  that  was  noble  and  wealthy  and 
distinguished;  a]l  the  year  round  her  palaces  were  thronged 
by  dependent  kings  and  princes.  Eome  was  the  nurse 
and  patroness  of  such  learning  and  thought  as  was  tolerated 
by  the  political  jealousies  of  the  Imperial  age ;  the  great 
days  of  Athens  were  already  of  the  past;  literature  was 
too  much  of  a  courtier  to  take  up  its  abode  contentedly  in 
a  conquered  province.  Nay,  Eome  was,  in  a  sense,  a  great 
religious  centre  too,  or  at  least  a  great  centre  of  the  current 
religions.  At  that  date,  all  that  was  spiritual,  all  that 
was  debased  and  superstitious  and  grotesque,  found  a 
place  and  a  haunt  in  Eome ;  with  magnificent  impartiality, 
she  smiled  a  welcome  to  all  the  truths  and  all  the  false- 
hoods that  presented  themselves  at  her  gates.  She  was 
to  ancient  civilization  what  since  the  Revolution  Paris 


246 


The  Courage  of  Faith. 


[Serh. 


.has  been  to  France  :  everything  else  was  provincial.  From 
her  went  forth  law,  and  the  secrets  of  administration, 
and  the  varied  enterprise  of  a  ruling  race,  and  the  canons 
of  taste  and  fashion,  and  the  rewards  of  honour,  and  the 
authoritative  opinions  which  swayed  the  world.  Back  to 
her  returned  all  that  the  subject  peoples  could  give ; 
their  skill,  their  arts,  their  wealth,  their  customs,  their 
philosophies,  their  religions.  Learning  might  yet  linger 
around  the  walls  of  Athens ;  Jerusalem,  we  know,  was  a 
sacred  spot.  But,  cherished  in  the  imaginations  of  the  men 
who  dwelt  on  the  shores  of  the  Gulf  of  Salamis,  or  on  the 
shores  of  the  Lake  of  Tiberias,  there  dwelt  ever  an  image  of 
the  distant  Empire  City,  in  which  this  world's  splendours 
reached  their  utmost  height ;  the  city  which  every  man  who 
aspired  to  fame  or  power  dreamt  at  least  of  seeing  before 
he  died.  Truly  Eome  was  the  "  colluvies  gentium;"  at 
once  the  queen  and  ruler  of  the  nations,  and  the  sink  into 
which  they  poured  their  corruptions  and  their  filth ;  but  we 
must  remember  that  men  who  looked  at  her  from  a  distance, 
as  St.  Paul  had  hitherto  done,  did  not  share  any  such  keen 
political  discontent  as  that  of  Tacitus,  or  any  such  social 
irritation  and  disgust  as  that  of  Juvenal.  Now  and  then, 
indeed,  as  when  Philo  the  J ew,  with  his  four  Alexandrian 
companions,  sought  to  obtain  justice  at  the  court  of  Cali- 
gula, the  provincials  might  discover  what  lay  beneath 
the  splendid  robe  of  their  imperial  mistress.  But  when 
Philo  is  describing  that  extraordinary  interview  with  the 
emperor  in  the  gardens  of  Maecenas,  in  which  the  caprice, 
and  the  insolence,  and  the  buffoonery  of  the  master  of 
thirty  legions  vented  themselves  on  the  terrified  envoys,  he 
is  profoundly  impressed  with  the  magnificence  of  Eome;1 
and  it  is  certain  that  St.  Paul,  writing  to  the  Eomans 
eighteen  years  after  Philo's  visit,  would  have  been  no 
stranger  to  a  like  impression. 

1  Philo  Judaeus,  Lcgatio  ad  Caium. 


XIII.]  The  Courage  of  Faith.  247 

And  the  Gospel — how  did  it  look  when  placed  in  juxta- 
position with  this  popular  estimate  of  the  greatness  of 
Eome  ?  If  it  had  yet  been  heard  of  in  the  upper  circles  of 
the  Imperial  city,  how  did  men  think  of  it  ?  what  did  they 
say  of  it  ?  Was  it  not,  relatively  to  everything  in  the  great 
capital,  as  far  as  the  natural  senses  and  judgment  of  man 
could  pierce,  poor  and  insignificant  ?  The  best  informed,  who 
deigned  now  and  then  to  bestow  a  thought  upon  the  morbid 
fancies  of  the  Eastern  wrorld,  could  have  distinguished  in  it 
only  a  rebellious  offshoot  from  the  most  anti-social  and  de- 
tested religion  in  the  Empire  ;  it  wTas  itself  an  "  exitiabilis 
superstitio ; "  and  it  had  about  it  a  touch  of  inconsequence 
and  absurdity  from  which  Judaism  was  free.  The  estimate 
which  an  average  French  Academician  might  be  supposed 
to  form  of  Quakerism  is  probably  not  unlike  the  estimate 
which  approved  itself  to  the  most  cultivated  minds  in  Eome 
as  due  to  the  religion  of  St.  Paul  and  St.  John.  If  Christi- 
anity meant  to  propagate  itself,  where  was  its  organization  ? 
how  could  the  government  of  a  few  unnoticed  congregations 
enter  into  any  sort  of  rivalry  with  the  mighty  system  of  the 
Imperial  Eule  ?  To  what  could  it  point  in  the  way  of 
literature,  at  least  so  far  as  the  literary  public  knew  ?  how 
could  it  compete  with  the  genius  of  poets  and  historians  who 
had  the  ear  of  the  world  ?  What  was  the  capacity  of  its 
leading  men — at  least  in  public  estimation — when  set  side 
by  side  with  the  accomplished  statesmen  who  had  created, 
and  who  still  from  time  to  time  ruled  the  Empire  ?  Well 
might  it  have  seemed  that  Eome,  the  centre  of  Imperial  life, 
must  bring  the  infant  Church  to  bay ;  Eome  must  teach  it 
to  measure  itself  by  other  standards  than  any  which  could 
be  supplied  by  a  remote  Asiatic  province;  Eome  must 
overawe,  by  the  magnificence  of  its  collective  splendours,  the 
pretensions  of  any  system  or  teacher  coming  forth  from 
some  obscure  corner  of  the  Empire  on  a  mission  to  illumi- 
nate and  to  change  the  world. 


248  The  Courage  of  Faith.  [Serm. 

True  enough  it  is  that  St.  Paul  had  his  eye  on  higher 
things ;  but  his  was  too  sympathetic  a  nature  not  to  be 
alive  to  what  was  meant  by  Eome.  Yet,  if  I  have  said 
that  his  voice  might  seem  for  a  moment  to  falter,  he 
at  once  recovers :  the  glories  of  Eome  do  not  overawe 
him.  He  is  not  enslaved  by  the  apparent  at  the  cost  of 
the  real.  He  knows  that  a  civilization  which  bears  a 
proud  front  to  the  world,  but  is  rotten  within,  is  destined 
to  perish.  Already,  five  years  before,  he  has  shown  in  one 
line  of  his  Second  Epistle  to  the  Thessalonians  that  he 
foresees  the  end  of  all  this  splendour  j1  already  he  may  have 
caught  some  of  the  accents  of  that  Christian  prophecy 
which,  a  few  years  later,  on  the  lips  of  another  Apostle, 
chanted  the  doom  of  the  mistress  of  the  world  :  "  .  .  .  She 
saith  in  her  heart,  I  sit  a  queen,  and  am  no  widow,  and 
shall  see  no  sorrow.  .  .  .  Alas,  alas,  that  great  city 
Babylon,  that  mighty  city!  for  in  one  hour  is  thy  judgment 
come.  And  the  merchants  of  the  earth  shall  weep  and 
mourn  over  her ;  for  no  man  buyeth  their  merchandise  any 
more:  the  merchandise  of  gold,  and  silver,  and  precious 
stones,  and  of  pearls,  and  fine  linen,  and  purple,  and  silk, 
and  scarlet,  and  all  thyine  wood,  and  all  manner  vessels  of 
ivory,  and  all  manner  vessels  of  most  precious  wood,  and 
of  brass,  and  iron,  and  marble,  and  cinnamon,  and  odours, 
and  ointments,  and  frankincense,  and  wine,  and  oil,  and 
fine  flour,  and  wheat,  and  beasts,  and  sheep,  and  horses, 
and  chariots,  and  slaves,  and  souls  of  men.  .  .  .  The 
merchants  of  these  things,  which  were  made  rich  by  her, 
shall  stand  afar  off  for  the  fear  of  her  torment,  weeping  and 
wailing,  and  saying,  Alas,  alas,  that  great  city,  that  was 
clothed  in  fine  linen,  and  purple,  and  scarlet,  and  decked 
with  gold,  and  precious  stones,  and  pearls !  For  in  one 
hour  so  great  riches  is  come  to  nought."2 

In  Christian  eyes,  Alaric  was  at  the  gates  of  Rome  long 

1  2  Thess.  ii.  7.  2  Rev.  xviii.  7,  10-13,  15-17. 


XIII.]     *     The  Cotcrage  of  Faith.  249 


before  his  time.  The  luxury,  the  ostentation,  the  lofty 
confidence  and  scorn,  which  were  concentrated  in  the 
Empire  city  were  doomed.  "  All  that  is  in  the  world,  the 
lust  of  the  flesh,  and  the  lust  of  the  eyes,  and  the  pride 
of  life,  is  not  of  the  Father,  but  is  of  the  world.  And  the 
world  passeth  away,  and  the  lust  thereof;  but  he  that  doeth 
the  will  of  God  abideth  for  ever."  1  Like  St.  John,  St. 
Paul  knew  that  one  man,  of  no  great  culture  or  accomplish- 
ments, yet  with  a  clear,  practical  faith,  is  more  than  a 
match  for  a  brilliant  society,  which  at  heart  believes  in 
nothing  as  right  and  true.  St.  Paul  was  well  aware  of  the 
insignificance  of  the  Gospel,  and  of  the  insignificance  of  the 
Church,  when  measured  by  ordinary  human  standards :  it 
was  his  own  observation  that  "  not  many  wise  men  after 
the  flesh,  not  many  mighty,  not  many  noble,"  are  called  to 
take  their  places  in  the  Kingdom  of  the  Redemption. 2  But, 
then,  in  his  estimate  of  the  relative  value  of  the  seen  and 
the  unseen,  of  the  Divine  and  the  human,  of  nature  and  of 
grace,  this  very  insignificance  is  power.  "  God  hath  chosen 
the  foolish  things  of  the  world  to  confound  the  wise ;  and 
God  hath  chosen  the  weak  things  of  the  world  to  confound 
the  things  which  are  mighty ;  and  the  base  things  of  the 
world,  and  things  which  are  despised,  hath  God  chosen,  yea, 
and  things  which  are  not,  to  bring  to  nought  things  that 
are:  that  no  flesh  should  glory  in  His  presence."3  There 
was  nothing  in  the  glories  of  Rome  to  arrest  the  exclama- 
tion, "  I  am  not  ashamed  of  the  Gospel  of  Christ." 

II. 

Another  reason  might  have  deterred  the  Apostle  from 
proclaiming  the  Gospel  in  the  face  of  the  society  and 
thought  of  Rome ;  there  was  about  it  a  suspicion,  if  not 
an  appearance,  of  failure.    Had  it  succeeded  as  yet  in 

1  I  St.  John  ii.  16,  17.  2  I  Cor.  i.  26.  8  I  Cor.  i.  27-29. 


250  The  Courage  of  Faith. 


Serm. 


achieving  all  that  men  might  have  looked  for  in  a 
religion  which  claimed  to  have  come  from  heaven  ?  It  is 
common,  and  very  natural  in  us  Christians  of  the  latter 
days,  to  idealize  the  Church  of  the  Apostolic  age.  But,  in 
sober  fact,  missions  working  under  the  eyes  of  the  Apostles 
were  not  always  prosperous;  and  Churches,  founded  and 
visited  by  Apostles,  were  not  always  united  or  always  pure. 
If  when  St.  Paul  wrote  the  sentence,  "  I  am  not  ashamed 
of  the  Gospel  of  Christ,"  he  was  thinking  of  Eome,  it  is 
well  to  remember  that  he  was  writing  from  Corinth.  And 
Corinth,  that  Church  of  Corinth,  from  the  midst  of  which 
he  wrote  thus  bravely,  what  was  it,  at  any  rate  a  short 
year  before,  in  the  judgment  of  the  Apostle  himself  ?  If 
it  was  to  be  judged  from  St.  Paul's  First  Epistle  to  the 
Corinthians,  might  not  this  Church  have  seemed  to  be  a 
typical  sample  of  the  failure  of  the  Gospel  to  realize  its 
ideal  ?  Its  discipline  was  forgotten ;  its  unity  was  rent 
by  schisms ;  some  fundamental  articles  of  the  faith  were 
questioned  or  denied  among  its  members.  The  Gospel 
was  designed  to  purify  unto  Christ  a  peculiar  people  zealous 
of  good  works.  But  at  Corinth  there  were  scandals,  "  such 
as  were  not  even  named  among  the  heathen ; "  and  the 
Corinthian  Christians  had  not  on  this  account  felt  the 
impatience  and  shame  which  became  a  Christian  Church.1 
The  Gospel  was  based  on  the  truth  that  Christ  died  for  our 
sins,  and  that  He  was  buried,  and  above  all  that  He  rose 
from  the  dead  the  third  day,  according  to  the  Scriptures.2 
It  was  based  on  this  last  fact  so  entirely,  that  if  Christ 
was  not  risen,  then  was  the  preaching  of  the  Apostles  vain, 
and  the  faith  of  Christians  was  also  vain.3  But  at  Corinth 
there  were  men  who  still  maintained  some  sort  of  con- 
nection with  the  Christian  Church,  and  who  yet  "  said 
that  there  was  no  resurrection  from  the  dead."4  Once 
more,  the  Gospel  had  for  its  motto  those  words  of  Jesus 

1  1  Cor.  v.  1,  2.     2  1  Cor.  xv.  3,  4.     3  1  Cor.  xv.  14.     4  I  Cor.  xv.  12. 


XIII.]  The  Courage  of  Faith. 


Christ,  "By  this  shall  all  men  know  that  ye  are  My  disciples, 
if  ye  have  love  one  to  another ; " 1  Christianity  was  the 
religion  of  those  who  were  "one  Body  and  one  Spirit,  even 
as  they  were  called  in  one  hope  of  their  calling."2  But  at 
Corinth  wrere  heard  the  discordant  cries,  "  I  am  of  Paul, 
ami  I  of  Apollos,  and  I  of  Cephas,  and  I  of  Christ."3  It 
might  have  been  supposed  by  a  looker-on  that  Christ  was 
divided ;  or  that  Paul  had  been  crucified  for  at  least  some 
of  the  Corinthians  ;  or  that  they  had  been  baptized  in  the 
name  of  Paul.4  Of  all  this  the  Apostle  was  sufficiently 
conscious ;  he  had  many  enemies  keen-sighted  and  clever 
enough  to  make  the  most  of  it ;  and  yet  with  Corinth  behind 
him,  and  with  Eome  and  its  gigantic  and  unattempted 
problems  before  him,  he  still  exclaims,  "  I  am  not  ashamed 
of  the  Gospel  of  Christ." 

The  truth  is,  that  in  this  matter  St.  Paul  distinguished 
between  the  Ideal,  revealed  to  man,  as  it  lay  in  the  Mind  of 
his  Master,  and  the  Eeal,  embarrassed  by  the  conditions 
imposed  on  it  by  fallen  human  nature;  and  he  did  not 
expect  to  see  the  Heavenly  Jerusalem  displayed  in  its 
unsullied  and  majestic  beauty  here  upon  earth.  In  his  own 
words,  he  knew  that  the  treasure  of  the  faith  was  deposited 
in  earthen  vessels,  that  the  excellency  of  the  power  might 
be  of  God,  and  not  of  us.5  And  therefore,  when  human 
nature,  even  though  illuminated  and  invigorated  by  grace, 
was  still  more  or  less  feeble  or  corrupt;  when  it  sanc- 
tioned moral  wrong,  or  denied  certain  truth,  or  split  up  the 
kingdom  of  faith  and  righteousness  into  fragments — St. 
Paul  was  not  surprised.  The  cause  of  the  failure  lay  not 
in  the  gift,  but  in  its  recipient;  not  in  the  Gospel  of 
Christ,  but  in  the  race  which  had  professed  it.  Men  could 
still  believe  that  there  was  a  Truth  abroad  differing  utterly 
from  all  the  recent  guesses  at  truth,  and  from  all  the 

1  St.  John  xiii.  35.  2  Eph.  iv.  4.  3  I  Cor.  i.  12. 

4  1  Cor.  i.  13.  5  2  Cor.  iv.  7. 


252 


The  Courage  of  Faith. 


[Serm. 


ancient  and  popular  errors ;  it  was  still  possible  to  pro- 
claim that  a  new  power  had  entered  into  our  fallen  world, 
and  that  it  was  not  therefore  incapable  of  raising  and 
saving  human  nature,  because  it  did  not  rob  man  of  his 
free  will,  and  crush  out  his  instincts  of  resistance  and 
mischief.  The  failures  of  the  Gospel  were  such  as  it 
could  afford  in  view  of  its  successes.  They  might  have 
been  fatal  to  a  mechanical  scheme  for  the  improvement 
of  mankind,  but  they  were  even  to  be  expected  in  a  moral 
system  which  put  no  force  upon  the  wills  and  hearts  of 
men,  while  it  invited  them  to  the  knowledge  and  love  of 
God.  "I  am  not  ashamed,"  said  St.  Paul,  when  writing 
from  the  midst  of  such  failures — "  I  am  not  ashamed  of 
the  Gospel  of  Christ." 

III. 

But  might  not  the  Apostle  entertain  misgivings  lest 
the  very  substance  of  the  message  which  he  bore  would 
be  a  bar  to  its  reception  ?  Assuredly  he  was  well  aware 
that  there  were  features  of  the  Christian  Creed,  and  those 
not  outlying  or  accidental,  but  of  its  very  core  and  essence, 
which  were  in  the  highest  degree  unwelcome  to  the  non- 
Christian  world.  Less  than  this  he  cannot  mean  by  such 
an  expression  as  "  the  offence  of  the  Cross ;"  or  when  he 
speaks  of  "  Christ  crucified  "  as  being  *  foolishness  "  to  the 
Greeks. 1  How  was  this  Gospel  then  to  make  its  way  to 
the  hearts  and  convictions  of  men  ?  How  was  this  mys- 
terious teaching — familiar  enough  to  a  generation  which 
has  learned  from  infancy  to  repeat  the  Creed  of  Christen- 
dom, but  strange  beyond  all  measure  to  the  men  who 
heard  it  from  its  first  preachers  in  the  towns  and  villages 
of  heathendom, — how  was  it  to  compass  acceptance  and 
victory?    Between  the  means  employed  and  the  contem- 

1  Gal.  v.  II.    i  Cor.  i.  18-23. 


XIII. 


The  Courage  of  Faith. 


253 


plated  result  there  must  be  some  kind  of  correspondence 
and  proportion :  what  was  the  weapon  by  which  the  Gospel 
hoped  to  win  the  obedience  of  the  world  ? 

Was  it  the  cogency  of  the  evidence  which  could  be  pro- 
duced in  order  to  show  that  Jesus  Christ  was  what  He 
claimed  to  be,  and  that  His  Apostles  were  sent  to  bear 
His  message  to  the  world  ?  ISTo  doubt,  much  of  the  earliest 
preaching  of  the  Apostles  was  devoted  to  insisting  on  the 
reality  and  worth  of  such  evidence  as  this.  The  fact  to 
which  the  Apostles  pointed  as  proving  the  truth  of  their 
message  to  the  world  was  the  fact  that  Jesus  Christ  had 
risen  from  the  dead.  For  them  it  had  been  a  matter 
of  personal  experience.  And  they  were  only  a  small 
minority  of  a  larger  number  of  persons — these  "five 
hundred  brethren  at  once,"1  for  instance — who  had  seen 
the  Eisen  Christ.  In  those  days  a  man's  personal  witness 
was  not  liable  to  be  set  aside  as  worthless  by  an  a  priori 
dogma  about  the  impossibility  or  the  inconceivableness  of 
the  supernatural;  or  by  some  pedantic  criticism  of  a  simple 
unguarded  narrative,  which,  if  generally  employed,  would 
be  fatal  to  all  ordinary  human  testimony  whatever.  The 
Apostles  were  strong  in  knowing  that  they  had  in  their 
different  ways  seen  and  heard  our  Eisen  Lord;  and  in 
virtue  of  this  their  personal  contact  with  Him,  they 
invited  in  His  [Name  the  faith  and  obedience  of  the  world. 

Certainly  the  Eesurrection  of  Christ  was  sufficiently  well 
attested ;  and  yet  its  witnesses  were  not  believed.  For  evi- 
dence of  the  truth  of  an  occurrence,  although  at  first  hand,  is 
powerless  against  a  strong  hostile  predisposition  of  the  will. 
It  is  a  matter  of  very  modern  experience  that  if  men  of 
good  faith  tell  the  world  of  some  strictly  natural  occurrence, 
of  fair  antecedent  probability,  they  will  not  be  believed,  if 
their  narrative  should  interfere  rudely  with  existing  pre- 
judices.   The  will  has  various  tried  devices  for  protecting 

1  1  Cor.  xv.  6. 


254  The  Courage  of  Faith.  [Serm. 


itself  against  the  intellectual  cogency  of  unwelcome  evi- 
dence ;  and  as  the  will  is  the  soul's  centre  and  stronghold, 
it  is  clear  that  something  beyond  evidence  is  needful,  if 
the  hearts  of  men  are  to  be  taken  captive  by  such  a  religion 
as  the  Gospel. 

And  here  it  is  that  the  Apostle  would  give  his  reason 
for  not  being  ashamed  of  the  Gospel  of  Christ;  for  not 
despairing  of  its  capacity  to  win  a  hostile  and  scornful 
world.  He  says  that  it  is  "  the  power  of  God  unto  salva- 
tion to  every  one  that  believeth." 1  There  is  lodged  in  it 
a  moral  impetus  and  constraining  force,  which  pours  forth 
from  it  into  the  human  soul,  and  quells  proud  thoughts  and 
lustful  passions,  and  lands  the  soul  on  the  Eternal  Shore. 
For  this  is  what  St.  Paul  means  by  salvation ;  he  means 
a  process  begun  here,  and  completed,  so  as  to  be  placed 
beyond  all  risk  of  reversal,  hereafter.  Observe  that  St. 
Paul  does  not  say  that  the  Gospel  was  an  instrument  in 
the  Hands  of  God,  which  He  designed  to  make  efficacious. 
He  speaks  of  it  as  being  itself  "  the  power  of  God,"  and 
this  because  it  is  the  self-unveiling  of  God ;  because  in 
and  through  it  the  Eternal  Son  of  God,  Incarnate  and 
Crucified  for  man,  speaks  and  acts ;  because  the  truth  and 
grace  given  to  men  in  the  gift  of  the  Gospel  are  the  secrets 
of  true  moral  force.  And  by  the  Gospel  he  means  most 
assuredly  no  mere  fragment  of  the  Gospel ;  such  as  Christian 
morality  without  Christian  doctrine,  or  the  Atonement 
without  the  grace  and  power  of  the  Sacraments.  Eor  all 
that  God  has  given  us  in  His  Blessed  Son  is  really  implied 
in  that  free,  unmerited  gift  of  righteousness  which  faith 
receives  at  the  hands  of  Christ,  and  which  robes  human 
nature  in  the  "  garments  of  salvation."  St.  Paul  knew  that 
this  had  been  his  own  experience.  Since  that  scene  on  the 
road  to  Damascus  he  had  been  another  man ;  he  had  lived 
a  new  life ;  "  old  things  had  passed  away,  behold  all  things 
1  Rom.  i.  1 6. 


XIII.]  The  Courage  of  Faith.  255 


had  become  new."1  Now  he  could  do  all  things  through 
Christ,  that  strengthened  him.2  And  as  writh  himself,  so 
with  others :  the  Gospel  had  made  many  a  man  whom  he 
knew  utterly  unlike  his  former  self.  Before  it  was  received, 
men  had  been  "  foolish,  disobedient,  deceived,  serving  divers 
lusts  and  pleasures,  living  in  malice  and  envy,  hateful 
and  hating  one  another."3  But  now  the  Gospel  was  the 
power  of  God  unto  salvation:  it  had  changed  the  moral 
scene  :  it  had  conferred  peace,  courage,  love,  joy,  patience, 
hope,  the  power  of  controlling  self,  the  power  of  assist- 
ing others,  resignation  and  trust  both  in  life  and  death. 
These  things  are  not  natural  to  human  beings ;  and  when 
we  find  them  in  anything  like  excellence,  they  show  that 
some  new  force  has  entered  into  human  life,  and  made  it 
what  it  never  could  be,  if  it  were  left  to  its  own  natural 
resources. 

It  may  be  said  that  this  reason  for  not  being  ashamed 
of  the  Gospel  is  after  all  only  a  subjective  reason.  It  may 
be  satisfactory  enough  to  the  individual  who  has  had 
inward  experience  of  its  reality,  but  it  says  nothing  to  the 
intellect  of  the  world.  Doubtless  it  is  true  that  a  personal 
conviction  of  the  truth  of  a  doctrine,  based  upon  the 
knowledge  of  what  it  has  done  for  the  man  who  holds  it, 
is  in  a  great  degree  incommunicable.  No  other  man  can 
exactly  feel  what  is  felt  by  the  most  conscientious  exponent 
of  such  an  experience;  others  can  only  take  what  is  stated  as 
to  the  internal  effects  of  Christian  truth  more  or  less  upon 
trust.  But  St.  Paul  does  not  say  that  the  fact  that  the  Gospel 
is  "  the  power  of  God  unto  salvation "  is  an  intellectual 
evidence  of  the  truth  of  the  Gospel :  he  merely  says  that 
this  fact  warrants  him  in  not  being  ashamed  of  it.  With 
St.  Paul,  for  the  moment,  it  is  a  question  not  of  a  logical 
weapon,  but  of  moral  decision.  Why  is  he  to  go  forward 
when  there  is  so  much  to  discourage  him  ?    Why  is  he  not 

1  2  Cor.  v.  17.  2  Phil.  iv.  13.  3  Titus  iii.  3. 


256 


The  Courage  of  Faith. 


[Serm. 


to  be  ashamed  of  Christ's  Gospel  ?  Because  he  knows  per- 
fectly what  it  has  been  to  himself ;  he  knows  something  of 
what  it  has  been,  within  the  range  of  his  own  observation, 
to  multitudes  besides,  and  he  infers  that  it  is  the  power  of 
God  unto  salvation  to  every  one  that  believeth. 

Before  we  pass  on,  let  us  observe  that  the  Eeligion 
of  Jesus  Christ  is  here  upon  ground  peculiarly  its  own. 
There  are  many  claimants,  in  our  modern  world,  for  the 
throne  which  it  has  owned  for  eighteen  hundred  years  in 
the  souls  of  Christian  men.  There  are  metaphysical  and 
physical  claimants ;  names  which  have  won  the  thinking  and 
the  unthinking  homage  of  educated  Europe.  But  whether 
the  eye  rests  on  the  masters  who  have  done  what  they  could 
for  mind,  or  on  the  masters  who  have  spent  themselves  in 
manipulating  matter  (they  are  near  enough  to  us,  and  I 
need  not  name  them) ;  let  me  ask  what  has  been  achieved 
by  these  most  distinguished  men  that  could  by  any  de- 
fensible use  of  language  be  described  "  as  a  power  of  God 
unto  salvation  "  ?  No,  the  deeper  aspects  of  life,  and,  much 
more,  the  grave  significance  of  death,  are  quite  beyond 
them — 

— "nec  quidquam  tibi  prodest 
Aerias  tentasse  domos,  animoque  rotundum 
Percurrisse  polum,  morituro." 

It  is  only  Jesus  Christ  Who  has  thrown  light  on  life 
and  immortality  through  the  Gospel;  and  because  He 
has  done  so,  and  has  enabled  us  by  His  Atoning  Death 
and  Intercession  to  make  the  most  of  this  discovery,  His 
Gospel  is  for  all  who  will  a  power  of  God  unto  salvation. 

Yet,  even  in  the  case  of  men  to  whom  St.  Paul's 
language  describes  their  own  happy  experience,  there 
may  be,  not  indeed  shame,  but  hesitation,  in  proclaiming 
it.  Those  to  whom  the  saving  power  of  Christ's  Cross  is 
most  intimately  certain,  as  being  to  them  a  matter  of 
personal  experience,  cannot  at  once,  and  without  difficulty. 


XIII.] 


1  he  Courage  of  Faith. 


257 


bring  themselves  to  say  much  about  it.  "We  do  not,  any  of 
us,  readily  talk  about  that  which  most  nearly  touches  us. 
Men  have  no  objection  to  talk  politics  in  public,  even 
when  they  feel  strongly  on  political  questions ;  and  the 
reason  is,  because  politics  address  themselves  not  to  that 
which  is  exclusively  personal,  but  only  to  those  common 
sympathies  and  judgments  which  we  share  with  some 
section  of  our  countrymen.  But  no  man  will  consent,  if 
he  can  help  it,  to  discuss  his  near  relations,  or  a  family 
interest,  in  public.  This  is  not  because  the  details  of 
private  life  do  not  interest  other  people ;  every  one  must 
know  how  very  far  this  is  from  being  true.  It  is  because 
the  feelings  which  they  arouse  in  those  concerned  are  too 
tender  to  bear  exposure. 

And  this  motive  operates  not  unfrequently  in  the  case 
of  religion.  Religion,  even  in  its  lower  and  most  imperfect 
forms,  twines  itself  round  the  heart  like  a  family  affection ; 
it  is  throned  in  an  inner  sanctuary  of  the  soul,  the  door 
of  which  is  closed  to  all  except  a  very  few,  if  not  indeed 
to  everybody.  Eeligion  has  its  outward  and  visible  side ; 
its  public  acts  of  homage ;  its  recognised  obligations.  But 
its  real  strength  and  empire  is  within;  it  is  in  regions 
where  spiritual  activity  neither  meets  the  eye  nor  commits 
itself  to  language.  All  to  whom  our  Saviour  is  a  real  Being- 
know  that  their  souls  have  had  and  have  relations  with 
Him  which  belong  to  the  most  sacred  moments  of  life.  If 
we  may  employ  a  metaphor  which  Holy  Scripture  suggests, 
they  hesitate  to  discuss  these  relations  almost  as  naturally 
as  a  bride  would  shrink  from  taking  the  world  into  her 
confidence.  The  case  of  each  soul  is  altogether  peculiar  to 
itself;  the  relations  of  each  soul  to  the  Lord  of  souls  are, 
like  the  character  or  the  countenance  of  every  man,  quite 
unique.  And  therefore  the  best  of  men  are  not  unfrequently 
least  able  to  talk  freely  upon  the  one  subject  respecting 
which  they  feel  most  deeply.    Especially  is  this  the  case 

K 


25B 


The  Courage  of  Faith.  [Serm. 


with  us  Englishmen,  who  are  naturally  at  once  sincere  and 
reserved ;  reserved  perhaps,  in  fact,  because  sincere.  Be- 
yond any  other  race  of  men  we  shrink  from  the  risk  of 
saying  more  than  we  feel,  or  even  from  the  duty  of 
saying  as  much  as  we  feel,  unless  it  be  strictly  necessary 
to  do  so. 

Some  of  you  who  hear  me,  and  who  look  forward  to 
taking  your  part  in  that  work  for  which  St.  Paul  lived 
and  died,  will  one  day,  if  you  do  not  now,  understand  me. 
You  will  understand  that  often  in  exact  proportion  to  the 
reality  of  a  religious  experience  may  be  the  difficulty  of 
making  it  public  property ;  and  that  one  of  the  most  trying 
features  in  a  clergyman's  work  may  consist  in  his  having 
to  make  a  perfectly  sincere  proclamation  of  that  which 
he  knows  to  be  true,  after  actual  contact  with  it  in  the 
chambers  of  his  own  soul.  Doubtless  a  nature  so  human 
and  sympathetic  as  St.  Paul's  would  have  felt  this  diffi- 
culty in  its  full  force ;  yet  we  know  how  completely,  how 
generously,  he  overcame  it.  In  his  large,  self-forgetting 
charity,  he  has  made  his  inmost  life — its  darkest  as  well 
as  its  brightest  passages — the  common  heritage  of  the 
world.  If  he  did  not  yield  to  the  instinct  which  would 
have  sealed  his  lips,  this  was  because  he  knew  that  the 
Gospel  of  his  Lord  and  Master  was  not  really,  like  some 
family  secret,  a  private  matter.  The  Friend  of  his  soul, 
Who  knew  its  wants  and  weaknesses,  Who  had  healed  its 
diseases,  Who  was  privy  to  its  inmost  confidence,  was 
surely  the  true  and  much-needed  Friend  of  every  human 
being ;  and  therefore  no  false  reserve  could  persuade  St. 
Paul  to  treat  the  Gospel  as  if  it  concerned  himself  alone, 
or  to  shrink  from  saying  with  the  Psalmist,  "  Come  near, 
and  hearken,  all  ye  that  fear  God,  and  I  will  tell  you  what 
He  hath  done  for  my  soul."1 

1  Ps.  lxvi.  14. 


XIII.]  The  Courage  of  Faith.  259 


IV. 

St.  Paul's  mind  about  the  Gospel  is  the  mind  of  Christ's 
true  servants  to  the  end  of  time.  The  pagan  Home  of 
history  has  perished ;  and  vet  that  which  it  represented  to 
the  Apostle's  eye  is  still,  in  a  modified  form,  before  us. 
The  vast  and  complex  organization  of  human  life — ma- 
terial, social,  mental,  moral — which  we  call  civilization,  so 
far  as  it  lies  beyond  the  scope  of  the  Gospel,  is  substantially 
what  it  was  of  old.  The  outer  aspects  of  the  world,  as  a 
thinking  and  acting  force,  now,  as  then,  reduce  the  Church 
to  a  relative  insignificance.  And  throughout  Christendom 
the  Church  confronts  the  world  with  a  faith  in  the  Unseen, 
perhaps  enfeebled  by  some  false  philosophy,  perhaps  dis- 
coloured by  superstition ;  with  a  unity  which  is  a  dream  of 
the  past,  or  of  the  future ;  with  a  message  which  is  treated 
even  less  respectfully  than  it  was  at  the  hands  of  Porphyry 
and  Celsus. 

And  yet,  to  any  who  can  take  a  sober  measure  of  men 
and  things,  there  are  no  reasons  for  being  ashamed  of 
Christ's  Gospel.  The  world  which  confronts  us  is  not 
really  more  splendid  or  more  solid  than  the  empire  which 
has  long  since  perished.  The  religious  weakness  and  dis- 
organization which  alarms  us  in  the  Church  is  not  different 
in  kind  from  that  which  was  familiar  to  St.  Paul.  The 
assaults  upon  the  faith,  which  have  been  conspicuous 
features  of  the  mental  life  of  this  generation,  are  not  more 
formidable,  and  do  not  cut  deeper,  than  those  which  he 
resisted.  And  the  Gospel  is  now,  as  it  was  then,  but  in 
a  much  greater  multitude  of  souls,  "the  power  of  God 
unto  salvation."  There  is  no  reason  whatever  for  bein^ 
ashamed  of  it ;  it  will  live  with  or  without  our  advocacy ; 
it  has  an  inward  force  that  is  all  its  own. 

"  I  am  not  ashamed  of  the  Gospel  of  Christ."  This  is 
the  profession — need  I  say  it — not  merely  of  Christ's  great 


26o 


The  Courage  of  Faith.  [Serm. 


Apostle,  but  of  the  humblest  and  weakest  of  Chris- 
tian ministers.  No  man  who  wears  Christ's  livery  can  be 
ashamed  of  His  Gospel  without  incurring  even  the  scorn 
of  the  world.  The  world  itself  has  no  pity  for  those  who 
voluntarily  undertake  the  championship  of  a  religion  which 
can  never  natter  the  wayward  errors  or  the  natural  pro- 
pensities of  man,  and  who  yet,  like  the  children  of  Ephraim 
of  old,  "  being  harnessed  and  carrying  bows,  turn  them- 
selves back  in  the  day  of  battle."1 

"  I  am  not  ashamed  of  the  Gospel  of  Christ."  Is  not 
this,  too,  the  rule  of  every  Christian  man,  of  every  young 
man  who  is  entering  upon  life  ?  You  know,  my  brethren, 
what  is  practically  meant  by  being  ashamed  of  the  Gospel. 
The  Creed  is  best  confessed  in  the  life  of  the  believer. 
The  sermon  which  is  lived  is  the  most  eloquent  of  all 
sermons.  The  act  of  loyalty  which  is  not  foregone  because 
of  a  frown  or  a  sneer,  seen  or  anticipated ;  the  act  of 
wrongdoing  which  is  not  consented  to  under  the  more 
imperious  pressure  of  a  personal  friendship,  or  of  a  false 
code  of  social  ethics :  these  are  the  victories  to  which  every 
man  among  us  is  invited,  in  very  various  degrees,  and 
our  equally  various  ways  of  meeting  the  invitation  are 
registered  above  against  the  great  Hereafter. 

"  I  am  not  ashamed  of  the  Gospel  of  Christ."  Here, 
surely,  is  a  fitting  motto  for  a  Christian  nation ;  for  a 
country  which  owes  to  Christ's  Gospel  so  great '  a  debt  as 
England  has  owed  it  for  fourteen  hundred  years ;  for  a 
people  which  might  well  say  to  Him,  "  Thou,  Lord,  hast 
taught  me  from  my  youth  up  until  now ;  therefore  will  I 
tell  of  Thy  wondrous  works."  2 

They  tell  us,  indeed,  that  the  Gospel  is  an  admirable 
guide  of  life  for  individuals,  but  that  it  has  no  business  to 
venture  within  the  sphere  of  politics.  Political  life  is  said 
to  be  beyond  its  scope;  the  Gospel  must  content  itself 

1  Ps.  lxxviii.  io.  2  Ps.  lxxi.  15. 


XIII.]  The  Courage  of  Faith.  261 


with  the  useful  career  which  is  open  to  it  in  the  privacy  of 
the  Christian  home. 

But  language  of  this  kind  is  impossible  for  a  serious 
believer.  If  Christianity  has  really  come  from  heaven,  it 
must  renew  the  whole  life  of  man ;  it  must  govern  the  life 
of  nations  no  less  than  that  of  individuals  ;  it  must  control 
a  Christian  when  acting  in  his  public  and  political  capacity 
as  completely  as  when  he  is  engaged  in  the  duties  which 
belong  to  him  as  a  member  of  a  family  circle.  If  a 
religious  principle  is  worth  anything,  it  applies  to  a  million 
of  human  beings  as  truly  as  to  one ;  and  the  difficulty 
of  insisting  on  its  wider  application  does  not  furnish  any 
proof  that  it  ought  not  to  be  so  applied.  Yet  many  a  man 
who  is  exemplary  in  all  the  private  relations  of  life,  is  in 
his  public  conduct,  and  in  the  political  opinions  which  he 
professes,  too  often  ashamed  of  the  Gospel  of  Christ ;  and 
this  repudiation  of  the  public  claims  of  Christ  is  by  no  means 
confined  to  any  one  of  our  political  parties.  How  is  it  pos- 
sible to  reconcile  any  true  sense  of  the  value  of  His  Gospel 
with  the  support  of  educational  schemes  which,  if  they 
were  carried  out  to  their  full  results,  would  virtually  banish 
Him  from  every  infant  schoolroom  in  the  country  ?  How 
can  we  Englishmen  look  steadily  in  the  face  of  the  Chinese 
who  asks  us  whether  we  mean  our  Eeligion  of  the  Cross, 
when,  as  a  nation,  we  have  forced  on  him,  at  the  sword's 
point,  a  trade  in  opium,  which  has  involved  his  country- 
men in  physical  and  moral  misery  unknown  to  them  before  ? 
How  can  we  really  confess  Jesus  Christ,  if  we  are  ready,  for 
the  sake  of  some  material  interests,  real  or  hypothetical,  to 
perpetuate  the  sufferings  of  millions  of  human  beings,  whose 
chief  crime  in  the  eyes  of  their  persecutors  is  that  they 
own,  amid  whatever  imperfections,  Christ's  Adorable  Name? 
No,  brethren,  let  us  be  honest ;  let  us  either  have  the 
courage  not  to  be  ashamed  of  the  Gospel  of  Christ  in  any 
department  of  life  and  thought,  or  let  us  own  that  we  have 


262 


The  Courage  of  Faith.  [Serm. 


adapted  the  morals  of  the  New  Testament  to  suit  a  state 
of  feeling  and  conduct  which  they  were  intended  gradually 
to  render  impossible. 

However  men  may  think  or  feel  upon  these  serious 
questions,  there  ought  to  be  no  room  for  controversy 
among  Christians  as  to  the  duty  of  England  towards  her 
great  dependencies.  And  that  duty,  as  it  affects  some 
among  us,  may  take  a  practical  form. 

If,  in  some  respects,  there  is  grave  reason  for  anxiety  in 
the  present  circumstances  of  the  Church  of  Christ,  there 
is  also  ground  for  thankfulness  and  hope.  And  one 
subject  which  may  warrant  this,  is  the  spirit  in  which 
Holy  Orders  are  now  approached.  Time  was  when  young 
men  drifted  into  ordination,  for  social  and  family  reasons, 
almost  without  any  will  of  their  own ;  and  it  could  not  be 
that  they  added  to  the  real  strength  of  a  society  which 
is  nothing  if  not  an  aggregate  of  spiritual  convictions. 
Now,  the  current  of  feeling  runs  the  other  way ;  and  if  a 
man  is  ordained  at  all,  it  is  in  virtue  of  a  strong  personal 
conviction.  The  embittered  controversies  of  the  time,  the 
uncertainties  of  the  future,  the  enemies,  many  and  fierce, 
who  prowl  around  the  camp  of  the  Church, — these  things 
make  some  men's  hearts  faint,  and  their  resolves  feeble. 
But  what  is  lost  in  one  direction  is  probably  gained  in 
another.  A  stirring  time,  though  it  be  a  time  of  danger, 
is  welcome  to  every  active  and  generous  spirit. 

"  Per  damna  per  caedes  ab  ipso 
Ducit  opes  animumque  ferro." 

It  is  not  in  quiet  days  that  the  Apostolic  hymn  is  best 
understood ; — 

If  we  suffer,  we  shall  also  reign  with  Him  ; 
If  we  deny  Him,  He  also  will  deny  us  ; 
If  we  believe  not,  yet  He  abideth  faithful  : 
He  cannot  deny  Himself. 1 

1  2  Tim.  ii.  12,  13 


XIII.]  The  Courage  of  Faith. 


263 


And  if  any  man  who  hears  me  is  in  doubt  what  to  do 
with  his  life,  one  suggestion  may  be  furnished  by  the  sub- 
ject of  to-day's  sermon.  It  will  not  be  hereafter  a  matter  of 
regret  if  you  should  resolve  to  devote  yourselves  to  Apostolic 
work  in  the  dependencies  of  this  great  Empire;  in  those  cities 
of  America,  and  Australia,  and  India,  which,  before  long, 
must  powerfully  affect,  if  they  do  not  even  govern,  the  course 
of  the  civilized  world.  AVe  are  not  far  from  the  time 
when  Sydney,  and  Melbourne,  and  Calcutta,  and  Cape 
Town  will  rank  with  the  old  capitals  of  Europe ;  already 
a  new  world  is  being  created  by  the  colonial  enterprise 
of  England.  Xo  light  privilege  is  it  to  have  a  hand  in 
building  up  the  moral  life  of  these  new  communities; 
no  common  honour  surely  to  help  to  lay  side  by  side  with 
the  foundations  of  their  free  political  institutions  the 
broad  and  deep  foundations  of  the  Church  of  God.  Often 
enough  it  is  little  that  can  be  done  in  an  old  country, 
where  life  is  ruled  by  fixed  and  imperious  traditions;  while 
much  may  be  done  where  all  is  yet  fluid,  and  where,  if 
religion  is  sometimes  unprotected  and  unrecognised,  she 
is  not  embarrassed  by  influences  which  deaden  or  cramp 
her  best  energies  at  home.  But  wherever  we  labour,  the 
rule  and  the  profession  of  the  Apostle  must  be  ours ;  and 
whatever  be  our  personal  mistakes  and  failures,  God 
grant  that  our  consciences  may  never  accuse  us  of  being 
ashamed  of  the  Gospel  of  Christ. 


SERMON  XIV. 


THE  CURSE  OX  MEROZ. 
Judges  v.  23. 

Curse  ye  Meroz,  said  the  angel  of  the  Lord,  curse  ye  bitterly  the  inhabitants 
thereof;  because  they  came  not  to  the  help  of  tlie  Lord,  to  the  help  of  the 
Lord  against  the  mighty. 

ISRAEL'S  struggle  against  the  Canaanitish  king  Jabin 
closes  the  first  period  of  the  history  of  the  Judges.  Of 
that  struggle  the  central  figure  is  the  speaker  in  the  text, 
Deborah,  prophetess  and  mother  in  Israel.  This  extra- 
ordinary woman  might  have  ranked,  so  far  as  natural 
strength  of  character  is  concerned,  with  those  of  her  sex 
who,  by  splendid  examples,  whether  of  energy,  or  intellect, 
or  sanctity,  have  from  time  to  time  reversed  the  ordinary 
relations  of  men  and  women,  and  have  left  their  mark 
for  ever  upon  the  history  of  the  world.  She  belongs 
to  the  same  class,  in  respect  of  natural  ascendency,  as 
Joan  of  Arc,  as  Elizabeth  of  England,  as  Catharine  the 
Second  of  Russia,  not  to  mention  humbler  but,  speaking 
religiously,  greater  names.  She  had,  besides  her  natural 
gifts,  the  gift  of  prophecy,  as  before  her  had  Miriam  the 
sister  of  the  Lawgiver ;  as  had  Huldah  the  wife  of  Shallum 
in  a  later  age.  Her  husband  Lapidoth  is  mentioned ;  he 
is  mentioned  only  to  be  forgotten :  Deborah's  was  a  life 


The  Curse  on  Meroz. 


265 


shaped  by  the  pursuit  of  public  rather  than  of  domestic 
objects.  In  her  song  of  victory  Deborah  implies  that  the 
rule  of  her  predecessors,  although  marked  by  deeds  of 
heroism  against  the  oppressors  of  Israel,  had  failed  alto- 
gether to  restrain  the  predatory  ravages  of  the  Canaanites. 
The  public  ways  were  unsafe  and  deserted ;  men  skulked 
from  place  to  place  by  out-of-the-way  paths;  there  was 
no  safety  for  property  or  life.1  Especially  would  the  whole 
level  country  of  the  Kishou  valley,  and  Deborah's  native 
tribe,  have  been  exposed  to  the  violence  of  the  Canaanitish 
tyrant  of  Hazor  and  his  general  Sisera.  This  may  explain 
her  removal  to  her  southern  home.  Under  a  palm-tree  of 
Benjamin  she  judged  Israel:  she  heard  appeals  from  the 
sentence  of  lower  tribunals,  as  became  the  supreme  judge 
of  the  nation.2  Of  the  actual  extent  of  her  influence,  of 
her  relation  in  particular  to  the  northern  tribes,  of  the  cause 
which  immediately  determined  her  to  proclaim  a  rising 
against  the  Canaanites,  we  really  know  nothing.  She 
summoned  Barak,  her  fellow-tribesman,  to  advance  from 
Kedesh,  in  the  extreme  north  of  the  country,  upon  Mount 
Tabor,  with  ten  thousand  men,  in  order  to  attack  Sisera. 
Barak  refused,  unless  the  prophetess  would  herself  accom- 
pany him;  soldier  as  he  was,  he  lacked  the  needful 
strength  and  convictions  to  brace  him  for  the  conflict. 
Deborah  warned  him  that  he  would  thus  forfeit  the 
honours  of  victory.  But  she  joined  him  at  Kedesh.  Upon 
their  reaching  Mount  Tabor,  Sisera  brought  up  the  asso- 
ciated Canaanitish  forces,  and  nine  hundred  chariots  of 
iron.  Barak  suddenly  rushed  from  the  heights  into  the 
valley ;  and  at  Taanach,  by  the  brook  Megiddo,  a  desperate 
encounter  resulted  in  the  utter  defeat  of  Sisera.  The 
original  word  denotes  the  extraordinary  character  of  the 
victory  as  effected  through  some  unmentioned  natural 
phenomenon :  it  even  seems  to  rank  Sisera's  defeat  with 

1  Judges  v.  6.  2  Deut.  xvii.  8. 


266 


The  Curse  on  Meroz.  [Serm. 


the  destruction  of  Pharaoh  in  the  Red  Sea,  and  of  the 
Canaanites  at  Gibeon.1  The  rout  was  indeed  complete. 
The  host  of  Sisera  was  driven  in  a  north-west  direction  to 
Harosheth,  where  Sisera  kept  a  kind  of  independent  court ; 
the  waters  of  the  Kishon,  then  at  their  height,  swept  many 
of  the  fugitives  into  the  Mediterranean ;  but  ere  the  last 
man  had  been  destroyed  at  Harosheth,  Sisera  had  left  his 
chariot,  and  had  fled  on  foot  towards  Lake  Merom,  where, 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  Kedesh,  he  met  his  death  in  the 
tent  of  Jael. 

It  was  in  the  course  of  this  hot  pursuit  that  Meroz  in- 
curred the  curse  of  the  Angel  of  the  Lord,  who,  as  the 
revealer  of  the  Invisible  God,  fought  for  Israel,  and  smote 
the  Canaanites.  Meroz,  situated,  it  is  probable,  on  the 
southern  slope  of  Tabor,  would  seem  to  have  closed  its 
gates  against  the  conquerors,  or  at  any  rate  to  have  refused 
to  take  its  part  in  the  great  struggle  against  the  enemies 
of  the  theocracy.  Whether  it  was  destroyed  at  the  time, 
or  left  to  perish  through  the  fear  and  aversion  of  all  good 
Israelites  for  the  spot,  we  know  not.  It  is  not  mentioned 
again  in  Scripture.  Deborah  heard  and  uttered  its  doom 
on  the  day  of  Israel's  triumph;  and  forthwith  it  disappears 
from  history. 

t 

It  is  in  the  song  of  Deborah,  rather  than  in  the  prose 
narrative  of  the  sacred  writer,  that  we  best  understand  the 
exigency  of  the  time,  and  the  spirit,  the  passion  of  the 
leaders  of  the  theocracy.  The  theocracy  was  for  the 
moment  almost  impersonated  in  Deborah.  And  Deborah 
lives  in  her  song ;  in  all  the  power  of  her  prophetic  utter- 
ance, in  all  the  penetrating  intensity  of  her  womanly  feel- 

1  Exod.  xiv.  24.    Josh.  x.  10.    Cf.  Keil's  remarks  on  Qnsl  in  loc. 


XIV. 


The  Curse  on  Meroz. 


267 


ing.  In  her  prelude  she  glances  at  the  great  days  of 
Israel,  when  God  was  felt  to  be  among  His  people  march- 
ing from  Sinai  j1  she  mourns  the  period  of  weakness  and 
degradation  that  had  followed;2  she  does  not  shrink, 
through  any  false  modesty,  from  marking  her  own  arising 
as  the  epoch  of  her  country's  resurrection.3  She  proclaims 
her  sympathy  with  the  national  leaders;  with  the  volun- 
teers from  among  the  people :  nobles  and  people  are  to 
reflect  on  the  mighty  acts  of  the  Lord — for  such  indeed 
they  were — as  the  returning  warriors  related  them  among 
the  women  watering  their  flocks.4  And  then,  after  again 
rousing  herself  to  the  task  of  minstrelsy,  while  Barak  is 
leading  the  captives  in  procession  before  her,  she  repeats 
the  story  of  the  victory :  the  streaming  of  the  heroes  of 
Israel  down  from  the  heights  to  fight  the  enemy  in  the 
plain  of  Jezreel;  the  terrific,  never-to-be-forgotten  shock 
of  battle  at  Taanach  ;  the  fighting  of  the  very  stars  in  their 
courses  against  Sisera,  through  some  storm  or  other  natural 
phenomenon  which  increased  his  difficulties  or  hastened 
his  discomfiture ;  the  swollen  waters  of  the  Kishon,  laden 
with  the  bodies  of  the  dying  and  the  dead ;  the  wTild  con- 
fused flight  of  the  dreaded  chariots  of  iron  before  the  men 
of  Israel.5  She  ends  with  the  tragic  death  of  the  general 
himself  in  the  tent  of  Jael,  and  with  the  picture  suggested 
by  her  own  woman's  heart ;  the  picture  of  Sisera's  mother 
expecting  her  son's  return,  explaining  to  herself  the  delay, 
for  which  there  was,  she  already  instinctively  feels,  all  too 
surely  another  explanation.  And  then  the  song  pauses 
suddenly  with  a  burst  of  prayer,  that  all  the  enemies  of 
the  Lord  might  perish  as  did  Sisera. 

Yet  Deborah  is  not  merely  a  poet:  she  is  a  judge;  and 
in  the  midst  of  her  passion  she  apportions  with  discrim- 
inating accuracy  their  exact  measure  of  desert  to  the 

1  Jii-^r-^-^,  5.  2  Judges  v.  6,  7.  3  Judges  v.  7. 

4  Judges  v.  9-1 1.  5  Judges  v.  19-22. 


268 


The  Curse  on  Meroz. 


[Serm. 


different  tribes ;  to  all  who  had  contributed,  or  who  ought 
to  have  contributed,  to  the  great  victory.  The  place  of 
honour  is  reserved  for  Naphtali  and  Zebulun :  these  had 
been  unsparing  in  self-sacrifice;  they  had  hazarded  their 
lives  unto  the  death  upon  the  high  places  of  the  field.1 
Less  had  been  done,  but  something  had  been  done  by 
Ephraim,  by  Benjamin,  by  western  Manasseh,  by  Issachar; 
they  had  sent  contingents,  probably  with  Deborah  herself, 
to  the  aid  of  Barak.2  Then  there  came  the  defaulters. 
Eeuben  had  felt  the  agony,  the  enthusiasm  of  the  moment 
there  had  been  all  the  agitation,  it  would  seem,  in  this  tribe 
of  a  prolonged  indecision ;  but  at  last  it  was  resolved  to 
prefer  the  comfortable  repose  of  a  shepherd's  life  to  tak- 
ing part  in  the  struggle  for  God  and  for  Israel.3  In  the 
same  spirit  the  other  tribes  beyond  the  Jordan  had  re- 
mained at  home ;  while  on  the  western  side  of  Palestine 
commerce  proved  as  enervating  as  did  pastoral  interests  in 
the  east.  Dan  and  Asher  were  both  too  absorbed  in  the 
interests  of  seafaring  populations — Dan  especially  in  the 
growing  prosperity  of  the  young  port  of  Joppa  and  the 
early  Phoenician  trade — to  have  a  heart  to  take  part  in  the 
national  struggle.4  But  the  language  used  as  to  these 
tribes  is  widely  different  from  that  which  is  provoked  by, 
or  rather  reserved  for,  Meroz.  They  were  at  a  distance 
from  the  scene  of  action ;  they  were  removed  from  the  sights 
and  sounds  which  brought  the  true  bearing  of  the  contest 
in  all  its  anguish  before  the  mind  of  the  inhabitants  of  the 
upper  Kishon  valley.  Meroz  saw  all,  knew  all,  felt  all, 
yet  would  take  no  part.  To  Meroz,  even  Jael,  the  Kenite 
chieftainess,  was  a  reproach.  Though  it  were  true  that 
her  act  fell  below  the  morality  of  the  Law,  yet  was  she 
"blessed"  for  the  spirit  of  loyalty  which  it  expressed; 
while  nothing  could  be  said  on  behalf  of  the  townsmen 

1  Judges  v.  1 8.  2  Judges  v.  14,  15. 

3  Judges  v.  15,  16.  4  Judges  v.  17. 


XIV.] 


The  Curse  on  Meroz. 


269 


who  had  refused  in  that  moment  of  unparalleled  agony  to 
bring  help  to  the  sacred  cause  of  their  country,  and  of 
their  God. 

II. 

Now,  are  we  to  say  that  the  curse  of  Meroz  is  a  "  dark 
patch  of  human  passion ; "  that  Deborah,  in  the  heat  of 
her  exultation  and  vengeance,  was  strictly  incapable  of  a 
balanced  moral  judgment ;  that  not  to  have  taken  part  in 
the  pursuit  of  Sisera  w7as  naturally  a  crime  in  the  eyes  of 
a  passionate  woman,  eager  for  the  emancipation  of  her 
race  and  for  the  triumph  of  her  cause ;  but  that  it  is 
altogether  impossible  to  read  history  by  the  light  of  such 
excited  feelings,  and  to  suppose  that  Meroz  drew  on  itself, 
not  merely  the  invectives  of  Deborah,  but  also  the  dis- 
pleasure and  condemnation  of  a  Eighteous  God  ? 

This  way  of  looking  at  the  lano-ua^e  before  us  ignores 
one  remarkable  characteristic  of  the  Jewish  theocracy ;  it 
ignores  what  we  should  term  in  a  secular  history  its  lofty 
public  spirit,  its  superiority  to  all  that  is  merely  personal 
and  selfish.  David  and  other  psalmists  especially  illustrate 
this.  David  reserves  his  enthusiasms  for  the  friends  of 
God ;  his  aspirations  for  the  success  of  the  cause  of  God ; 
his  anxieties  for  the  risks  of  God's  kino-dom ;  his  hatred 
for  the  enemies  of  God's  truth,  and  glory  :  "  "Whom  have  I 
in  heaven  but  Thee  ?  and  there  is  none  upon  earth  that  I 
desire  in  comparison  of  Thee."1  "Do  not  I  hate  them, 
0  Lord,  that  hate  Thee  ?  and  am  not  I  grieved  with  them 
that  rise  up  against  Thee  ?  Yea,  I  hate  them  right  sore ; 
even  as  though  they  were  mine  enemies." 2  So  Ezra : 
"  Mine  eyes  gush  out  with  water,  because  men  keep  not 
Thy  law."  3  So  a  captive  in  Babylon :  "  If  I  forget  thee,  0 
Jerusalem,  let  my  right  hand  forget  her  cunning.  If  I  do 
not  remember  thee,  let  my  tongue  cleave  to  the  roof  of  my 

1  Ps.  lxxiii.  24.  -  Vs.  cxxxix.  21,  22.  3  Ps.  cxix.  136. 


270  The  Curse  on  Meroz.  [Serm. 


mouth;  yea,  if  I  prefer  not  Jerusalem  in  my  mirth."1 
The  language  of  Deborah  was  not  the  expression  of  a 
personal,  or  social,  or  political  spite  any  more  than  was 
the  language  of  David  and  Ezra.  It  was  not  her  own 
cause ;  not  even  the  cause  of  her  country,  as  such ;  it  was 
the  cause  of  the  Lord  God  which  she  had  at  heart,  which 
had  long  since  won  her  love,  and  now  fired  and  guided  her 
indignation. 

Are  we  to  say,  then,  that  if  this  language  be  in  keeping 
with  the  stern  spirit  of  the  Law  it  is  out  of  place  in  the 
religion  of  the  Gospel  ?  This,  indeed,  is  often  said.  But 
it  assumes  too  hastily  that  the  Gospel  repealed  not  merely 
the  ceremonial  but  the  moral  teaching  of  the  Law,  not 
merely  its  forms  of  worship  but  its  representation  of  the 
Divine  attributes,  not  merely  its  carnal  weapons  of  warfare 
but  its  loyalty  to  and  zeal  for  truth.  In  point  of  fact,  the 
Gospel  explained  or  it  enlarged  the  teaching  of  the  Law. 
It  removed  misconceptions  which  had  gathered  around  that 
teaching.  It  did  not  destroy  what  God  Himself  had  given.2 
God's  earlier  Eevelation  of  Himself  as  a  whole,  as  well  as 
its  particular  gifts  and  promises,  was,  in  Apostolic  phrase, 
"  without  repentance ; " 3  it  did  not  admit  of  repudiation 
or  recall.  The  Divine  attribute  of  mercy,  sufficiently  re- 
vealed in  and  insisted  on  by  the  Law,  acquired  under  the 
Gospel  a  practical  and  concrete  shape  in  the  life  and  death 
of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  The  duties  of  charity,  loving- 
kindness,  patience,  benevolence,  unselfishness,  already 
prescribed  by  the  Law,  were  elaborated  and  enforced  with 
a  new  determination  and  precision  in  the  Gospel.  But 
the  Gospel  Revelation .  did  not  thereby  repeal  the  earlier 
Eevelation  of  the  Justice  of  God  as  a  necessary  principle 
of  His  government ;  nor  did  it  define  the  virtue  of  charity 
to  mean  indifference  on  the  subject  of  moral  evil  or  of 

1  Ts.  cxxxvii.  5,  6.  2  St.  Matt.  v.  17,  18. 

3  Kom.  xi.  29,  aixeTOLfxfK-qTa. 


XIV.J  The  Curse  on  Meroz.  271 

intellectual  falsehood.  It  prescribed  to  men  the  largest 
consideration  for  the  difficulties,  the  weaknesses,  the 
failures  of  others ;  it  taught  the  doctrine  of  the  relativeness 
of  all  responsibility  for  knowledge  of  truth  and  duty,  as 
that  doctrine  had  never  been  taught  before ;  but  it  did  not 
slur  over  the  lines  which  define  the  boundaries  of  moral 
and  intellectual  truth ;  it  spoke  as  sternly  as  did  the  Law 
when  truth  required  outspokenness.  Why  else  should  our 
Lord  have  foretold  woe  to  Chorazin  and  Bethsaida ;  why 
should  He  have  said  that  Capernaum  once  exalted  to 
heaven  should  be  cast  down  to  hell;1  why  should  He  have 
predicted,  with  tears  of  sorrow,  the  coming  desolation  of 
Jerusalem  ?2  What  was  the  meaning  of  the  many  sayings 
in  which  He  proclaimed  the  necessity  of  accepting,  and  the 
danger  of  rejecting  Himself?3  What  is  to  be  said  of  St. 
Paul's  anathemas  against  propagating  a  false  faith  and 
against  want  of  love  for  Christ  ?  "  If  any  man  love  not  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  let  him  be  anathema  maranatha."  4  "  If 
any  man  preach  any  other  gospel  than  that  which  we  have 
preached  unto  you,  let  him  be  accursed." 5  It  has  been  urged 
that  this  language  of  our  Lord's  and  St.  Paul's  constitutes 
a  foreign  element  in  the  New  Testament ;  that  it  belongs 
to  modes  of  thinking  and  speaking  which  were  accepted 
traditionally  from  the  earlier  religion,  without  being  revised. 
But,  not  to  mention  the  impossibility  of  reconciling  any 
such  doctrine  as  this  with  our  Lord's  claims  to  be  obeyed 
as  an  unerring  Teacher  of  Divine  Truth,  it  proceeds  upon 
a  false  estimate  of  the  real  demands  of  all  religious  truth 
and  duty  upon  man,  however  partial  may  be  his  knowledge 
of  it.  It  presumes  that  the  acceptance  of  truth  and  the 
performance  of  duty  is  really,  in  the  last  resort,  an  affair  of 

1  St.  Matt.  xi.  21,  23.    St.  Luke  x.  13,  15. 

2  St.  Matt,  xxiii.  37.    St.  Luke  xiii.  34  ;  xix.  41-44. 

3  E.g.  St.  Luke  xix.  27.    St.  Mark  viii.  38. 

4  1  Cor.  xvi.  22.  5  Gal.  i.  8,  9. 


272 


The  Curse  on  Meroz.  [Serm. 


taste ;  and  it  is  tins  vital  misconception  which  makes  the 
sterner  language  of  the  Gospel,  not  less  than  that  of  the 
Law,  unwelcome  and  unintelligible. 

III. 

What,  then,  precisely  was  the  sin  of  [Meroz  ?  Meroz 
was  found  wanting  on  a  great  occasion,  as  it  could  not 
have  been  found  wanting  had  it  been  sound  at  heart. 
Certainly  it  failed  first  of  all  in  the  duty  of  patriotism. 
If  we  are  tempted  to  think  that  Deborah's  language  was 
unwarrantable,  let  us  consider  what  we  ourselves  should 
say  under  similar  circumstances.  Let  us  suppose  that  this 
country  had  been  successfully  invaded  by  a  foreign 
enemy;  that  during  his  occupation  every  form  of  social 
and  personal  misery  had  been  inflicted ;  that,  not  to  speak 
of  the  ruin  of  our  credit,  of  our  trade,  of  our  national 
character,  the  exercise  of  our  religion,  the  sanctity  of  our 
homes,  the  freedom  of  our  persons,  had  been  imperilled  or 
sacrificed  ;  and  that  at  last,  under  whatever  leadership,  an 
organized  rising  against  the  invader  had  been  successful,  at 
least  within  limits,  and  that  he  had  sustained  a  decisive 
reverse.  And  let  us  further  suppose  that  at  the  very 
crisis  of  his  discomfiture,  when  everything  depended  upon 
making  his  position  untenable,  and  upon  converting  a  first 
disaster  into  irremediable  defeat,  some  single  English  town, 
lying  in  the  very  valley  along  which  the  torrent  of  war 
was  sweeping,  should  refuse  assistance  or  even  sympathy 
to  the  national  forces.  Do  you  think  that  English  public 
men,  or  English  public  writers,  reviewing  the  campaign 
when  all  was  over,  wTould  be  sparing  of  denunciation,  after 
their  own  fashion,  of  such  treachery  to  the  national  cause  ? 
Would  they  not  insist  upon  the  preciousness,  the  sanctity 
of  the  national  life;  upon  the  folly  and  wickedness  of 
preaching  any  doctrine  which  could  destroy  or  impair  it  ; 


XIV.] 


The  Curse  on  Meroz. 


273 


upon  the  duty  of  laying  aside  all  private  opinions,  grudges, 
hesitations,  in  presence  of  so  absorbing,  so  overwhelming  a 
catastrophe  as  an  invasion  ?  And  should  it  be  suggested 
that  in  using  this  language  they  were  only  indulging 
some  kind  of  selfish  passion,  would  they  be  careful  to 
answer  the  taunt  ?  Certainly  Deborah  is  passionate ;  but 
it  is  a  noble  passion  which  animates  her — if  it  is  a  true 
love  of  her  country.  Alas  !  for  us  Englishmen,  if  a  sickly 
cosmopolitanism — appealing,  not  to  a  pure  deep  love  of 
humanity  at  large,  but  to  an  unmanly  shrinking  from 
exacting  efforts  and  sacrifices,  which  might  be  prescribed, 
I  do  not  say  by  our  historical  traditions,  but  by  the  posi- 
tion and  duties  assigned  to  us  in  His  world  by  God — 
should  have  made  us  unable  to  understand  her. 

Meroz  failed,  secondly,  in  a  far  graver  duty,  a  duty 
towards  its  religion.  For  the  cause  of  Israel  against 
Jabin  was  not  merely  the  cause  of  the  country;  it  was 
the  cause  of  the  Church.  In  Israel  Church  and  State 
were  not  "  united,"  for  the  simple  reason  that  they  were  one 
and  the  same  thing.  When  we  Christians  use  the  phrase 
"Union  of  Church  and  State,"  we  imply  what  is  the 
historical  fact,  namely,  that  since  the  Incarnation,  Church 
and  State  are  fundamentally  distinct  things ;  distinct  in 
their  origin,  in  their  laws,  and  in  their  corporate  life ;  but 
that  under  favourable  circumstances  they  may  be  brought 
into  relations  of  harmony  and  interdependence.  If  the 
Church  were,  to  use  a  modern  phrase,  merely  the  "  expres- 
sion of  the  varying  religious  consciousness  of  the  country," 
as  was  really  the  case  with  the  religions  of  pagan  anti- 
quity, it  would  be  absurd  to  speak  of  the  "  union  "  of  this 
"  expression  "  with  the  body  politic  which  alone,  moment 
by  moment,  produces  and  sustains  it.  In  Israel  Church 
and  State  were  two  aspects  of  one  and  the  same  organi- 
zation; and  hence  the  politics  of  an  Israelite  could  not 
be  merely  civil;  they  were  always  made  up  of  religious 

s 


2  74  The  Curse  on  Meroz.  [Serm. 


principles  and  opinions.  Thus  it  is  that  the  political 
language  of  the  Psalter  is  the  natural  religious  language  of 
the  Christian  Church.  God  was  in  the  midst  of  the  Holy 
State  •}  its  prosperity  was  His  glory  among  men ;  its  failures 
and  humiliations  were  His  dishonour.  Meroz  was  not 
merely  wanting  in  duty  to  the  race  of  Abraham  and  Jacob; 
to  the  memories  and  traditions  of  Moses  and  of  Joshua ;  it 
was  undutiful  towards  the  true  King  of  the  sacred  nation, 
as  yet  unrepresented  below  by  any  earthly  viceroy;  the 
King  Who,  though  He  could  have  done  otherwise,  had 
made  His  honour  dependent  on  the  loyalty  and  affection  of 
His  subjects.  Meroz  would  not  come  "  to  the  help  of  the 
Lord  against  the  mighty."  Why  Meroz  failed  we  know 
not.  It  may  have  been  pusillanimity;  although  this  is 
the  less  probable  explanation  at  such  a  moment.  It  may 
have  been  the  result  of  a  selfish  calculation  that  the  tide 
of  war  might  yet  turn  again;  that  a  time  might  come 
when  Jabin  would  know  how  to  reward  the  friends  of 
his  adversity.  It  may  have  been  a  fastidious  coldness, 
an  isolation  of  aims  and  sympathies  from  those  which 
governed  the  heart  of  the  sacred  nation,  a  peevish  jealousy 
of  the  tribes  which  had  taken  a  lead  in  the  great  work  of 
deliverance ;  it  could  hardly  have  had  its  root  in  intellec- 
tual bewilderment  as  to  the  course  of  duty.  Probably  it 
was  a  strictly  analogous  case  to  that  of  the  conduct  of  the 
men  of  Succoth  and  Penuel  towards  Gideon  in  his  pursuit 
of  the  Midianitish  kings.2  To  refuse  aid  to  the  sacred 
cause  until  it  was  certain  of  success,  was  in  a  man  or  a 
community  belonging  to  the  covenanted  nation  an  act  of 
virtual  apostasy ;  and  Meroz  was  not  merely  politically 
disfranchised,  it  was  religiously  excommunicated. 


1  Ps.  xlvi.  5;  xlviii.  i-8;  lx.  6-12. 


2  Judges  viii.  13-17. 


XIV.] 


The  Curse  on  Meroz. 


275 


IV. 

Aleroz  is  never  unrepresented  in  history.  And  the  con- 
duct of  its  representatives  has  been  sometimes  explained 
to  imply  a  faith  so  strong,  and  withal  so  humble,  that  it 
caunot  venture  to  offer  assistance  to  One  in  AVhose  Power 
it  unreservedly  trusts. 

God,  we  are  told,  will  do  what  He  sees  best,  whether 
we  help  Him  or  not :  He  can  conquer  Sisera,  at  the  proper 
time,  without  the  aid  of  Meroz.  Doubtless  He  can.  But 
the  question  is,  whether  He  wills  to  do  so  or  not ;  whether, 
if  He  wills  us  to  be  His  agents,  we  can  wisely  disobey 
Him  by  pleading  that  we  have  too  much  reverence  or  too 
much  faith  to  obey.  This  kind  of  argument,  it  must  be 
plain,  leaves  great  room  for  self-delusion.  Men  will  not 
argue  thus,  who  know  by  experience  that  they  are  likely 
to  be,  at  least  sometimes,  swayed  by  selfish  motives  of 
indolence,  or  timidity,  or  self-aggrandizement.  The  faith 
in  the  self-propagating  power  of  Christianity  which  is  so 
strong  that  it  will  not  support  the  cause  of  Christian  mis- 
sions ;  the  robust  faith  in  the  indestructible  vitality  of  the 
Church  which,  when  occasion  permits,  would  illustrate  her 
life  by  depriving  her  of  the  agencies  and  resources  that 
ordinarily  support  it ;  the  faith,  in  short,  in  God's  power  of 
upholding  His  own  cause  in  the  world,  which  carefully 
abstains  from  contributing  anything  to  serve  it,  so  fearful 
is  it  of  offering  a  slight  to  the  Divine  Omnipotence  ;  this 
faith,  which  would  seem  to  be  too  vigorous  to  be  in  any  sense 
practical,  would  not  yet  have  been  developed  in  the  days  of 
Deborah.  It  is  hardly  probable  that  Meroz  declined  its 
part  in  the  great  struggle  from  an  excess  of  trust  in  the 
strength  of  Israel's  cause  and  Israel's  God :  men  had  not 
then  discovered  that  to  obey  God's  will  was  to  incur  some 
risk  of  dishonouring  His  attributes. 

"  Curse  ye  Meroz."     Yes.  the  words  still  live.  May 


276 


The  Curse  on  Meroz.  [Serm. 


they  not  be  heard  within  the  soul  when  a  man  has  con- 
sciously declined  that  which  conscience  has  recognised  as 
plain  duty  ?  Such  a  man  needs  no  audible  voice  of  the 
Angel  of  the  Lord  or  of  the  prophetess;  conscience  pro- 
phesies within  him.  The  soul  becomes  inevitably  and  at 
once  aware  of  a  great  moral  and  spiritual  impoverishment. 
It  is  a  condition  of  enjoying  continued  insight  into  the  laws 
which  govern  spiritual  truth,  that  we  should  conform  our 
moral  being  to  that  measure  of  truth  which  we  already 
see.  A  deliberate  rejection  of  duty  prescribed  by  already 
recognised  truth,  cannot  but  destroy,  or  at  least  impair  most 
seriously,  the  clearness  of  our  mental  vision.  Since  the 
affections  can  only  retain  their  freshness  by  free  expansion 
towards  their  highest  Object,  a  refusal  to  do  that  which  their 
healthful  exercise  would  imply  and  prompt  reacts  upon  them 
in  producing  coldness,  shyness,  reserve.  Since  the  will  only 
preserves  those  qualities  of  directness  and  energy  in  which 
its  excellence  consists,  by  undeviating  loyalty  to  the  law 
of  conscience  which  should  guide  it,  it  follows  that  failure 
to  obey  that  law  on  a  critical  occasion,  when  the  issues 
are  clearly  comprehended,  means  nothing  less  serious  than 
such  grave  diseases  of  the  moral  constitution  as  crooked- 
ness of  purpose  and  feebleness  in  resolve.  A  single  act 
may  thus  involve  grave  inward  deterioration ;  it  may  land 
the  soul  upon  a  lower  level  of  moral  life,  where  there  is 
less  light,  less  warmth,  less  force ;  where  passion  is  more 
imperious  and  principle  is  weaker ;  where  a  man  is  less  his 
own  master  and  more  readily  enslaved  to  the  circum- 
stances and  beings  around  him. 

It  is  a  charge  against  the  higher  education,  as  it  is  pur- 
sued in  the  universities,  especially  in  Oxford,  that  it  has 
not  unfrequently  a  tendency  to  unfit  men  for  the  battle  of 
life;  to  make  them  merely  critical  or  speculative  when 
they  ought  to  be  taking  an  active  part  on  the  field  of  duty. 
Some  very  signal  instances  to  the  contrary  will  indeed 


XIV.] 


The  Curse  on  Meroz. 


277 


occur  to  everybody ;  but  the  question  is  as  to  a  general 
tendency.  Your  own  experience,  brethren,  will  best  decide 
on  the  justice  of  this  charge.  Have  you  learned  to  defer  to 
a  standard  of  taste  which  is  often  too  fastidious  to  permit 
a  man  to  engage  in  eager  action ;  which  is  so  sensitively 
alive  to  the  dreaded  criticisms  of  an  academical  public, 
that  it  has  no  heart  to  act  or  to  write  under  the  pressure 
of  a  sense  of  duty  and  in  simple  forgetfulness  of  self? 
Do  your  studies  or  your  friendships  tend  to  weaken  and 
pulverize,  instead  of  bracing  and  developing  those  central 
convictions,  apart  from  which  life  resolves  itself  into  a 
somewhat  wearisome  game  of  chance  ?  Eefmement  and 
subtlety  of  intellect  have  a  market  value  in  a  literary 
society  which  does  not  belong  to  them  in  the  world  at  large. 
Human  life  is  governed,  not  by  the  masters  of  the  abstract 
sciences  or  of  good  taste,  but  by  powerful  and  glowing 
enthusiasms  which  prompt  and  which  imperatively  demand 
action  in  order  to  express  themselves,  in  order  to  live. 
And  therefore,  in  such  proportion  as  an  educational 
system  eats  out  the  core  of  strong  convictions  by  logical 
solvents,  or  paralyzes  action  by  a  continuous  appeal  to 
some  standard  of  propriety  which  treats  all  earnestness 
as  of  the  nature  of  vulgarity,  it  necessarily  diminishes 
capacity  for  strenuous  and  heroic  action,  or  even  for  such 
modest  but  praiseworthy  efforts  as  fall  far  short  of  being 
either  heroic  or  strenuous.  This  is  a  subject  which  may 
be  considered  from  many  points  of  view  besides  that  of 
religious  faith :  the  curse  of  Meroz  may  be  the  voice  of  a 
clearsighted  public  spirit,  as  well  as  of  a  religious  view  of 
life  and  duty. 

Certainly  we  have  been  summoned  into  life  at  a  time 
when  the  lesson  of  the  text  may  have  a  serious  significance 
for  any  one  of  us.  The  old  quiet  days  when  everything 
was  so  established  as  to  be  almost  unchallenged  are  gone. 
Sisera  is  at  the  head  of  his  wild  warriors ;  and  ere  we  die 


278 


The  Curse  on  Meroz. 


[Seem. 


the  life  of  the  nation  or  the  wellbeing  of  the  Church  may 
demand  at  our  hands  exceptional  sacrifices.  Are  we  pre- 
pared for  them  ?  There  is  no  single  feature  of  the  circum- 
stances of  the  United  States  of  America  upon  which  the 
most  intelligent  and  devoted  friends  of  the  great  Eepublic 
look  with  more  unconcealed  alarm  than  the  withdrawal 
from  public  life  of  almost  the  whole  of  the  educated  class, 
and  the  consequent  abandonment  of  some  of  the  highest 
and  most  responsible  places  in  the  State  to  earnest  but 
uncultivated  fanatics,  or  to  mere  adventurers.  It  will 
be  an  evil  day  for  England  if  the  natural  leaders  of  the 
people  forego  their  duties  because  the  course  of  modern 
politics  is  unwelcome  to  them ;  mistakes  of  this  magnitude 
are  made  by  an  instructed  and  governing  class  only  once. 
There  are  vestigia  nulla  retrorswrn  ;  the  ground  once  lost  is 
irrecoverable. 

Amon"  the  nobler  lives  which  have  been  lived  during 
the  last  twenty  years  in  Oxford  few  can  have  excelled 
that  of  the  late  Edward  Denison.  As  an  undergraduate 
he  determined  to  qualify  himself  for  combating  social 
mischiefs  by  close  observation  and  experience.  He  acted 
upon  the  opinion,  that  in  order  to  represent  the  poor  a 
man  should  have  had  actual  companionship  with  them. 
And  so,  at  an  age  when  most  men  in  his  position  would  be 
thinking  only  of  pleasure  Or  of  ease,  he  lived  among  the 
poor  as  one  of  themselves,  in  a  lodging  in  a  back  street 
at  the  East  end  of  London.  Enough  has  been  published  in 
his  letters  to  disclose  something  of  his  real  temper  and 
aspirations ;  but  when  he  was  from  time  to  time  showing 
himself  at  his  club,  and  making  his  first  speeches  in  the 
House  of  Commons,  men  little  knew  what  kind  of  life  he 
was  leading,  and  by  what  principles  he  was  governed.  Yet 
he  too  had  passed  through  a  moment  of  indecision,  when 
it  was  doubtful  whether  he  would  obey  the  high  ideal  of 
conduct  which  had  been  set  before  him.    To  miss  an  oppor- 


XIV.J 


The  Curse  on  Meroz. 


279 


tunity,  he  said  at  that  time,  is  not  simply  to  leave  undone 
what  you  might  do :  it  is  too  probably  to  fail  to  be  what 
you  might  have  been ;  it  is  to  exchange  a  higher  place  in 
the  scale  of  moral  life  for  a  lower  one. 

But  it  is  Christ's  spiritual  kingdom  against  which 
Satan  directs  his  fiercest  assaults,  and  to  which  Christians 
owe  their  most  devoted  service.  Devotion  to  the  Church 
should  be  another  name  for  devotedness  to  Christ.  "  Inas- 
much as  ye  have  done  it  unto  one  of  the  least  of  these  My 
brethren,  ye  have  done  it  unto  Me  ;" — this  is  the  motive 
and  the  blessing  of  all  forms  of  work  in  the  Church  of  God. 
It  is  said  that  men  who  would  have  spent  their  lives  in 
her  service  a  generation  since  do  not  do  so  now.  Some, 
because  they  have  a  higher  sense  of  what  such  service 
means  than  had  their  predecessors:  they  may  do  well. 
Some  who  shrink  from  the  manifold  annoyances,  the 
controversies,  the  disappointments,  the  great  and  perhaps 
increasing  difficulties  of  modern  clerical  life :  these  must 
do  ill.  A  great  necessity  is  a  great  opportunity.  Much 
more  is  to  be  done  for  Truth  amid  the  agitation  and 
turmoil  of  an  a^e  like  ours  than  in  the  old  davs  of  stae- 
nation,  when  the  life  of  the  Church  was  frostbound  and  frost- 
bitten, when  there  was  little  place  for  and  recognition  of 
heroism  and  self-devotion.  Xothing  is  really  lost  by  a  life 
of  sacrifice :  everything  is  lost  by  failure  to  obey  God's 
call.  The  great  struggle  of  good  and  evil,  of  truth  and 
error,  which  was  raging  when  Deborah  judged  Israel,  rages 
still.  The  great  laws  of  the  moral  world  do  not  vary,  how- 
ever different,  under  different  dispensations,  may  be  the 
authoritative  enunciation  of  truth,  or  the  means  of  propagat- 
ing and  defending  it.  J abin  and  Sisera  never  really  die : 
Deborah  is  always  despairing,  triumphing,  hoping,  judging 
by  turns.  And  the  opportunities  of  generously  serving  Jesus 
Christ  are  few ;  perhaps  not  more  than  one,  in  a  lifetime. 
They  come,  they  do  not  return.   The  day  before  Meroz  failed 


28o 


The  Ctirse  on  Meroz. 


there  was  no  warning  of  its  coming  trial;  the  day  after  there 
was  no  reversal  of  its  moral  doom.  What  we  do  upon  a 
great  occasion  will  probably  depend  upon  what  we  already 
are ;  what  we  are  will  be  the  result  of  previous  years  of 
self-discipline,  under  the  grace  of  Christ,  or  of  the  absence 
of  it.  But  to  most  men  some  opportunity  of  service  is 
offered,  though  it  be  only  one.  And  what  that  opportunity 
may  be  matters  much  less  than  whether,  when  it  comes, 
it  is  made  the  most  of. 


SERMON  XV. 


THE  GOSPEL  AND  THE  POOK. 

(WHITSUN-DAY.) 

St.  Luke  iv.  18. 

The  Spirit  of  the  Lord  is  upon  Me,  because  He  hath  anointed  Me  to 
preach  the  Gospel  to  the  poor. 

IT  is  not  perhaps  too  bold  to  say  of  this  sentence  that  it 
is  the  motto  of  our  Lord's  ministry.  He  had  already 
entered  on  His  public  life  when  He  came  to  Nazareth, 
"where  He  had  been  brought  up."  As  had  been  His 
wont,  certainly  since  His  thirteenth  year,  possibly  since 
His  fifth  or  sixth,  He  was  present  in  the  well-known 
Synagogue  on  the  Sabbath  day.  The  lesson  from  the  Law 
had  been  read;  the  lesson  from  the  Prophets  was  to 
follow.  He  rose,  as  wishing  to  read ;  and  a  servant  of  the 
Synagogue  handed  Him  the  roll  of  Isaiah.  There  was,  no 
doubt,  at  that  period  an  appointed  lesson  for  the  day ;  but 
on  this  occasion  the  Eeader  knew  Himself  to  be  Lord  of 
the  Synagogue  as  well  as  Lord  of  the  Sabbath.  He  let  the 
roll  unwind  itself  from  the  cylinder ;  one  after  another  the 
great  passages  describing  His  Person  and  His  work  passed 
beneath  His  eye.  The  first  group  of  Isaiah's  writings  had 
gone ;  the  last  was  rapidly  disappearing,  when  He  placed 
His  finger  on  the  passage  before  us.  "  The  Spirit  of  the 
Lord  is  over  Me ;  because  He  hath  anointed  Me  to  preach 


282 


The  Gospel  and  the  Poor. 


[Serm. 


good  tidings  unto  the  poor ;  He  hath  sent  Me  to  bind  up  the 
broken-hearted,  to  proclaim  liberty  to  the  captives,  and  the 
opening  of  the  prison  to  them  that  are  fettered ;  to  preach 
the  acceptable  year  of  the  Lord."1 

The  passage  plainly  refers  to  the  year  of  jubilee,  which 
at  somewhat  distant  intervals  came  as  a  season  of  benevo- 
lence and  grace  to  heal  the  social  wounds  of  Israel.  In 
this  happy  year  the  Israelite  who  had  been  sold  into 
slavery  might  recover  his  freedom ;  the  proprietor  whose 
ancestral  lands  or  houses  had  been  alienated  might  re-enter 
on  his  patrimony  on  easy  terms;  the  prisoner  for  debt 
might  obtain  his  discharge  ;  poverty  and  distress  could 
put  forward  their  claims,  and  be  sure  of  a  hearing.  The 
blessings  of  the  jubilee  were  earthly  shadows  of  the 
blessings  of  Eedemption;  and  the  herald  of  the  jubilee 
foretold  by  Isaiah  is  clearly  not  the  prophet  himself,  but 
that  Other  Figure  who  is  so  often  before  us  in  Isaiah's  later 
writings;  He  is  the  Servant  of  the  Lord,  at  once  distinct  from 
the  prophet  and  greatly  raised  above  him.  And  thus  when, 
His  task  being  over,  Jesus  had  folded  the  roll,  and  had 
given  it  to  the  minister  and  had  sat  down,  and  the  eyes 
of  all  that  were  in  the  Synagogue  were  fastened  on  Him, 
He  began  to  say  unto  them,  "  This  day  is  this  scripture 
fulfilled  in  your  ears."2  There  could  be  no  mistake  as  to 
His  meaning.  He  Himself  was  the  Preacher  Whom 
Isaiah  had  foretold;  and  His  message  was  the  predicted 
announcement  of  good  tidings  to  the  poor. 

In  Israel  the  poor  did  not  merely  represent  that  average 
of  failure  and  destitution  which,  as  it  would  seem,  is  the 
inevitable  product  of  organized  human  life;  they  had  a 
more  recognised,  almost  a  religious  standing  in  the  national 
system.  They  were  never  to  cease  out  of  the  land ; 3  and 
our  Lord's  words,  "  The  poor  ye  have  always  with  you,"4 


1  Isa.  lxi.  I,  2. 
3  Deut.  xv.  ii. 


2  St.  Luke  iv.  20,  21. 
4  St.  Matt.  xxvi.  11. 


XV. 


The  Gospel  and  the  Poor. 


283 


meant  this  and  more.  The  anavim  of  the  Psalter  appear 
both  in  the  earlier  and  the  later  psalms:  they  are  not 
merely  poor  in  circumstances,  but  poor  in  spirit.  As 
Gesenius  remarks,  the  word  is  commonly  used  with  "  the 
added  notion  of  a  lowly,  pious,  and  modest  mind,  which 
prefers  to  bear  injuries  rather  than  return  them."1  Pro- 
bably, when  our  Lord  spoke,  these  religious  associations 
with  poverty  had  somewhat  disappeared;  His  express 
blessing  on  the  "poor  in  spirit"2  might  seem  to  imply 
this.  When  He  explained  Isaiah's  words  as  referring  to 
Himself,  He  would  have  been  understood  to  be  drawing 
a  distinction  between  the  social  condition  of  the  mass  of 
His  own  hearers  and  that  of  other  learners  in  other  con- 
temporary schools.  The  classes  who  thronged  the  lectures 
of  the  great  Eabbis  in  Jerusalem,  and  who  listened  to  that 
compound  of  occasionally  lofty  moral  maxims  and  far- 
fetched or  grotesque  interpretations,  which  afterwards  be- 
came the  Talmud — these  were  not  the  poor.  The  students 
of  those  writers  who  undertook  to  establish  an  understand- 
ing between  Jewish  thought  and  the  outer  world  of  Greek 
culture  and  philosophy ;  the  readers  of  Xicholas  of  Damas- 
cus, of  Philo  of  Alexandria,  as  later  of  Josephus;  these 
were  not  the  poor.  But  the  Galilaean  peasants,  sitting 
before  Jesus  in  the  Synagogue  of  Xazareth,  did  answer  to 
the  description ;  and  it  was  that  He  might  announce  the 
good  tidings  to  such  as  they  were  that  the  Spirit  of  the 
Lord  was  upon  Him. 

That  our  Lord's  ministry  was  eminently  a  ministry  for 
the  poor  is  a  commonplace  which  need  not  be  insisted  on. 
His  relations  were  poor  people,  with  the  associations,  the 
habits,  the  feelings  of  the  poor.  He  passed  among  men  as 
"the  carpenter's  son."3  He  spoke,  it  would  appear,  in  a 
provincial  north-country  dialect,  at  least  commonly.  His 
language,  His  illustrations,  His  entire  method  of  approacli- 
1  Ges.  s.  v.  «|jy.         2  St.  Matt.  v.  3.         3  St.  Matt,  xiii.  55. 


284 


The  Gospel  and  the  Poor.  [Serm. 


ing  the  understandings  and  hearts  of  men,  were  suited  to 
the  apprehension  of  the  uneducated.  When  He  spoke,  the 
common  people  heard  Him  gladly.1  When  He  was  asked 
by  what  signs  He  could  prove  His  claims,  He  replied, 
among  other  things,  "  The  poor  have  the  Gospel  preached 
to  them."2  His  first  disciples  were  poor  men;  "not  many 
wise  men  after  the  flesh,  not  many  mighty,  not  many  noble 
were  called."3  As  they  looked  back  on  it,  the  grace  of  His 
example  was  felt  by  His  disciples  and  servants  to  consist 
pre-eminently  in  this ; — "  that  though  He  was  rich,  yet  for 
our  sakes  He  became  poor,  that  we  through  His  poverty 
might  be  rich."4 

So  it  was  with  His  earliest  Church.  The  Church  of  the 
Apostles  was  a  Church  of  the  poor ;  of  silver  and  gold  it 
had  none.5  One  of  the  first  incidents  in  its  history  was  an 
economical  experiment  for  the  relief  of  poverty.  Of  St. 
Paul's  time  and  thought  a  large  portion  was  devoted  to 
organizing  collections  among  the  Greek  churches  for  the 
poor  Christians  in  Palestine.  In  St.  James's  short  epistle 
nothing  is  more  remarkable  than  the  apostolic  energy 
with  which  he  upholds  the  rights,  the  dignity  of  the  poor, 
against  the  insolence  of  their  wealthy  neighbours.6  Here 
and  there,  no  doubt,  there  were  converts  who  brought 
learning,  station,  wealth,  within  the  fold  of  the  Church. 
But,  upon  the  whole,  it  was  at  once  the  reproach  and 
the  glory  of  Apostolic  Christendom,  that  it  first  won  its 
victories,  and  then  lavished  its  blessings,  chiefly  among 
the  poor. 

L 

This  is  mere  history;  it  lies  upon  the  surface  of  the 
New  Testament.    But  that  which  may  well  arrest  our 

1  St.  Mark  xii.  37.      2  St.  Matt.  xi.  5.       3  1  Cor.  i.  26. 

4  2  Cor.  viii.  9.  5  Acts  iii.  6.  6  St.  James  ii.  1-7;  v.  1-6. 


XV.] 


The  Gospel  and  the  Poor. 


285 


attention,  on  to-day's  festival,  is  the  marked  connection, 
in  this  and  other  passages,  between  the  preaching  of  the 
Gospel  to  the  poor  and  the  gift  of  the  Eternal  Spirit. 
Such  a  purpose,  in  so  great  a  gift,  looks,  at  first  sight,  like 
an  unnecessary  expenditure  of  force.  Why,  men  may  ask, 
should  This  Almighty  Visitor  be  thus  associated  with  such 
a  humble  effort  ?  Why  should  the  Spirit  not  reserve  Him- 
self to  dissipate  the  objections  of  the  intellectual,  or  the 
fastidiousness  of  the  highly  born,  or  the  pride  of  the 
wealthy  ?  Does  not  Christianity  claim  to  be  the  religion 
of  the  whole  human  family;  and  is  there  not  something 
invidious  as  well  as  unaccountable  in  the  primacy  of 
honour  thus  awarded  to  poverty  by  the  Unseen  Agent 
Who  was  to  convert  the  world  ?  Poverty,  it  is  added,  is 
already  half-Christian  by  its  very  nature ;  it  has  everything 
to  gain  by  a  doctrine  which  makes  so  little  of  the  present 
and  the  visible,  and  so  much  of  the  future  and  the  unseen. 

Undoubtedly,  my  brethren,  man  needs  a  heavenly  teacher, 
be  his  social  station  or  his  mental  characteristics  what 
they  may.  Intellect  and  wealth  have  dangers  all  their 
own,  if  the  wisdom  of  the  one,  as  it  sometimes  is,  be 
foolishness  with  God,1  and  if  it  be  often  easier  for  a  rope 
to  pass  through  the  eye  of  a  needle  than  for  the  other  to 
enter  the  kingdom  of  heaven.2  But  it  does  not  therefore 
follow  that  poverty  is  Christianity  in  the  bud,  or  a  sort 
of  social  sacrament,  conferring  grace,  so  to  phrase  it,  ex 
opere  ojperato,  on  all  who  happen  to  be  poor ;  or  that  the 
mere  absence  of  those  specific  obstacles  to  religion  which 
beset  the  educated  and  the  rich,  ensures  the  virtual  pre- 
sence of  religious  principles  and  practice  in  the  poor.  The 
contrary  is,  in  fact,  the  case.  Poverty  without  a  faith 
and  rule  of  life,  jj°verty  without  any  illuminating- 
principle  to  turn  it  to  moral  account,  may  well  appear 
to  be  almost  unmitigated  misfortune ;  for  poverty  does 

1  1  Cor.  iii.  19.  2  St.  Matt.  xix.  24. 


286 


The  Gospel  and  the  Poor. 


[Serm. 


not  of  itself  promote  either  religion  or  any  of  the  higher 
interests  of  human  beings.  It  may  do  good  to  those  of  us 
who,  through  no  merit  of  our  own,  have  entered  upon  life 
under  very  different  circumstances,  if  we  forget  for  a  few 
minutes  the  ancient  East,  and  contemplate  some  of  the 
most  obvious  results  of  poverty  in  the  lives  of  many 
thousands  of  our  countrymen. 

A  first  effect  of  poverty,  then,  is  the  confiscation  of  a 
poor  man's  best  time  and  thought,  from  sheer  necessity, 
to  the  task  of  providing  food  and  clothing  for  himself  and 
his  family.  Many  men  who  are  far  from  being  poor  have 
to  work  for  a  livelihood.  But  a  man  can  work  hard,  if  he 
can  at  will  command  a  holiday.  A  man  can  work  hard, 
if  his  work  is  also  felt  to  be  a  source  of  refinement,  of 
instruction,  of  discipline,  of  recreation ;  if  it  enlightens  his 
mind,  if  it  purifies  his  affections.  As  a  rule,  a  poor 
man's  work  is  not  of  this  description :  it  is,  from  all  points 
of  view  save  that  of  the  wages  it  yields,  unremunerative, 
because  it  is  more  or  less  mechanical.  It  cannot  be  inter- 
rupted unless  from  sheer  necessity ;  the  poor  man  cannot 
afford  to  lose  a  day's  wages,  and  therefore,  though  feeling 
depressed  or  ill,  he  cannot  forego  a  day's  work.  As  he 
works  he  is  not  thinking  of  his  place  in  the  moral  uni- 
verse, although  he  is  at  least  as  capable  of  true  nobility  as 
is  any  other  human  being ;  he  is  thinking  of  the  next  meal, 
of  the  next  pay-day,  of  the  next  rent-clay.  The  next  rent- 
day  is  probably  his  most  distant  horizon.  Earely  can  he 
aspire  to  win  an  independence,  and  so  to  purchase  exemption 
from  the  necessity  which  is  laid  upon  him  of  supporting 
existence  by  incessant  toil.  Who  does  not  see  how  this 
liability  must  clog  and  depress  the  human  spirit ;  how  it 
chokes  up  the  avenues  through  which  even  natural  light 
and  heat  penetrate  within  the  understanding  and  the  heart? 
Some  room  must  be  made  for  religion  amidst  the  thoughts 
and  occupations  of  life  before  it  can  inspire  or  control  them; 


XV.]  The  Gospel  and  the  Poor.     .  287 

and  in  the  case  of  the  poor  man,  who  has  to  work  hard  for 
his  daily  bread,  and  to  whom  all  mental  effort  is  very 
serious,  the  difficulty  of  even  getting  a  hearing  for  the  good 
tidings  which  Christ  our  Lord  has  brought  to  earth  from 
heaven  is  often  great  indeed. 

Another  effect  of  poverty  is  that  it  often  blights  those 
domestic  scenes  of  happiness  which  prepare  the  way  of 
religion  in  the  soul.  In  the  natural  course  of  things, 
kindliness,  courtesy,  refinement,  are  the  products  of  home- 
life  ;  the  home  is  the  centre  and  the  manufactory  of  these 
natural  graces.  It  is  to  his  family  that  a  man  escapes 
when  his  day's  toil  is  over.  At  home  he  forgets  the 
passions  and  the  rivalries,  be  they  great  or  small,  of  his 
public  life,  whatever  its  sphere  or  scale  of  importance ;  at 
home  the  finer  side  of  human  nature  has  a  chance  of  grow- 
ing, as  being  SUre  of  its  nutriment  and  its  welcome.  At 
home  a  man  knows,  if  nowhere  else,  what  it  is  to  be  inter- 
preted generously,  to  be  trusted,  to  be  loved ;  here  he  finds 
a  field  for  the  play  of  those  affections  in  the  exercise  of 
which '  earthly  happiness  mainly  consists.  But  for  this 
two  things  are  needed ;  competency  and  order.  And  how 
often  are  these  wanting  in  the  households  of  the  poor ! 
Many  of  us  must  have  visited  cabins  in  which  a  numerous 
family  inhabits  a  single  room;  in  which  the  young,  the 
aged,  the  sick,  the  hale,  the  parents  and  children,  herd 
together  by  day  and  by  night ;  in  which  the  mother,  who 
should  be  a  presiding  genius  of  kindliness  and  of  cleanli- 
ness, is  the  representative  of  ill-humour  and  of  dirt;  in 
which  all  that  protects  ordinary  intercourse  against  coarse- 
ness, and  ordinary  tempers  against  irritation,  and  average 
health  against  disease,  and  modest  efforts  to  improve 
against  brutal  interference,  is  too  often  absent ;  in  which 
all  is  so  crowded  that  there  is  no  room  for  delicacy,  for 
reserve,  for  the  charities,  for  the  proprieties  of  common 
life.    Certainly — 


288 


The  Gospel  and  the  Poor. 


[Serm. 


"Haud  facile  emergunt,  quorum  virtutibus  obstat 
Res  angusta  domi. " 

Worse  off,  it  has  been  truly  said,  may  be  the  poor  man, 
whom  civilization  has  made  what  he  is,  than  was  his 
savage  ancestor ;  for  worse  his  lot  who  lives  in  the  back 
lane  of  a  great  city,  where  pure  air,  and  light,  and  room, 
and  cleanliness  are  denied  him,  than  that  of  the  man  of 
another  time,  who  roamed  in  the  forest  beneath  the  sky  of 
heaven,  and  who  could  at  least  command,  amid  whatever 
disadvantages,  the  requisites  for  healthy  animal  existence, 
and  for  the  unstinted  play  of  pure  affections.  Yes !  A 
comfortless  home  is  often  even  more  fatal  to  character  than 
to  health.  It  chills  the  affections ;  it  sours  the  temper ;  it 
ends  by  doing  more.  Nothing  is  more  common  than  to 
hear  severe  language  applied  to  the  poor  man's  habit  of 
spending  his  evenings  at  the  public-house.  But  who  of 
us,  when  by  chance  walking  at  night  through  the  neglected 
quarters  of  a  great  town,  has  observed  how,  at  more  or  less 
frequent  intervals,  the  monotony  of  dreariness  and  squalor 
is  broken  by  the  brilliant  lights  and  the  ostentatious  hos- 
pitalities of  these  establishments,  can  wonder  that  the  poor 
man  is  attracted  by  the  contrast  which  they  present  to 
all  that  characterizes  his  home,  and  that,  yielding  to  their 
fatal  welcome,  he  essays  to  drown  in  an  hour  of  brute  half- 
consciousness  the  memory  of  the  griefs  that  too  sorely 
embitter  his  domestic  life  ?  It  is  the  road  to  ruin,  without 
a  doubt.  But  it  is  not  for  those  of  us  who  have  never  felt 
even  the  shadow  of  the  troubles  which  are  eating  out  his 
heart  to  cast  a  stone  at  him. 

The  worst  result  of  poverty  is  that  it  often  destroys  self- 
respect.  Self-respect  is  a  different  thing,  as  it  is  needless 
to  add,  from  the  most  venial  form  of  self-complacency.  The 
forfeiture  of  self-respect  does  not  necessarily  take  place 
when  a  poor  man  becomes  a  pensioner  on  the  bounty  of 
others.    A  man  who  receives  from  his  fellow-man  that 


XV.]  The  Gospel  and  the  Poor.  289 


assistance  which,  if  their  circumstances  were  reversed,  he 
would  gladly  bestow,  undergoes  no  moral  damage  in  conse- 
quence ;  he  is  merely  a  party  to  a  transaction  which  effects 
on  a  small  scale  an  equitable  redistribution  of  property. 
If,  indeed,  he  prefers  dependence  to  exertion :  if,  forgetful 
of  the  intrinsic  nobleness  of  work,  he  attempts  to  purchase 
leisure  by  the  servilities  of  beggary,  then,  beyond  doubt, 
his  manhood  is  impaired,  and  he  is  in  a  fair  way  to  be  and 
to  do  much  that  is  fatal  to  the  respect  which  a  good  man 
should  entertain  for  the  sanctities  of  his  life.  But  of  itself, 
dependence  does  not  degrade.  Children  are  not  the  worse 
for  depending  on  their  parents ;  servants  are  not  injured 
by  the  kindness  of  their  employers ;  tenants  are  not 
humiliated  by  the  considerate  liberality  of  the  landlord; 
nor  do  we  any  of  us  suffer  because  we  are  all  indebted  for 
all  that  we  are  and  have  to  the  Eternal  Bounty,  and  He 
knows  us  too  well,  and  has  too  good  a  care  of  us,  to  have 
ordered  anything  really  inconsistent  with  our  true  well- 
being.  No,  his  dependence  does  not  threaten  the  poor 
man's  self-respect ;  but,  especially  in  large  centres  of  life, 
he  is  peculiarly  exposed  to  the  ravages  of  a  passion  which, 
if  yielded  to,  degrades  and  brands  the  soul  with  a  fatal 
certainty.  Certainly,  envy  is  no  monopoly  of  the  poor; 
it  makes  itself  felt  in  all  sections  of  society :  it  haunts  the 
court,  the  library,  the  barrack-room,  even  the  sanctuary ; 
it  is  provoked  in  some  unhappy  souls  by  the  near  neigh- 
bourhood of  any  superior  rank  or  excellence  whatever — 

"  Pectora  felle  virent,  lingua  est  suffusa  veneno. 
Risus  abest ;  nisi  quern  visi  movere  dolores. 
Nec  fruitur  somno,  vigilacibus  excita  curis : 
Sed  videt  ingratos,  intabescitque  videndo 
Successus  hominum  :  carpitque  et  carpitur  una 
Snppliciumque  suum  est." 

But  who  can  marvel  if  this  miserable  species  of  passion, 
which  is  stirred  even  in  the  prosperous  by  the  achieve- 

T 


290 


The  Gospel  and  the  Poor. 


[Serm. 


ments,  the  success,  the  good  fortune  of  a  comrade,  finds 
encouragement  amid  the  hard  circumstances  of  the  poor  ? 
From  their  narrow  and  squalid  homes  they  go  abroad  to 
gaze  on  the  mansions  of  the  great  and  wealthy ;  at  their 
scanty  meals  they  discuss  the  splendid  banquets  which 
can  command  every  luxury  but  appetite  ;  as  they  pursue 
their  daily  toil,  they  see  around  them  men  of  their  own 
race  and  age  to  whom  life  is  made  so  easy  as  to  become 
little  less  than  a  protracted  weariness.  Of  those  unchang- 
ing laws  which  will  always  create  great  inequalities  in 
the  circumstances  of  human  lives  they  know  little  or 
nothing.  Why  should  things  be  thus  ?  Why  should  there 
be  these  immense  contrasts,  this  unaccountable  caprice 
— for  such  it  must  seem — in  the  distribution  of  life's 
prizes  and  blessings  ?  These  are  questions  which  force 
themselves  naturally  enough  into  a  poor  man's  mind ;  and 
the  bitter  thoughts  which  they  breed  lead  him  from  time 
to  time  to  take  part  in  deeds  of  violence  and  blood.  The 
outrage  in  a  foreign  capital  last  Sunday  afternoon,  which 
sent  a  thrill  of  pain  and  fear  through  the  civilized  world, 
was  the  product  of  social  theories  created  by  the  passion 
that  finds  a  ready  stimulus  in  the  circumstances  of  the 
poor.1  A  writer  who  has  lately  sketched  with  vivid 
power  some  of  the  approaches  to  the  first  French  Eevo- 
lution,  has  analyzed  generally  with  a  master  hand  the 
explosive  forces  by  which  was  shattered  a  social  fabric  that 
had  lasted  already  for  a  thousand  years.2  But  he  has 
apparently  failed  to  point  out  how  intimately  the  moral 
degradation  of  the  men  who  trampled  the  old  monarchy 
in  the  dust  of  Paris  Was  due  to  the  pent-up  energy  of 
a  hidden  passion,  capable  almost  beyond  any  other  of 
brutalizing  the  human  soul. 

1  The  second  attempt  to  assassinate  the  Emperor  of  Germany,  made  by 
Dr.  Nobeling,  on  Sunday,  June  2,  187S. 

2  M.  Tame. 


XV.]  The  Gospel  and  the  Poor.  291 

Poverty  of  course  is  and  means  a  great  deal  more  than 
has  thus  been  stated.  But  at  least  let  us  bear  in  mind 
that  it  involves,  very  commonly,  the  exhaustion  of  life  by 
mechanical  work,  the  degradation  of  character  in  the  home 
and  in  the  usual  expedients  to  escape  from  it,  and  the  loss 
of  self-respect,  and  of  all  that  that  loss  implies,  through 
the  continued,  unappeased,  ever-increasing  envy  of  the  lot 
of  others.  Not  that  poverty  has  not  produced  its  heroes, 
who  have  vanquished  its  disadvantages  with  stern  deter- 
mination. We  have  here  to  consider,  not  the  splendid 
exceptions,  but  the  average  result.  And  that  result  may, 
within  limits,  be  counteracted  by  wise  philanthropy  and 
by  wise  laws.  When  a  sufficient  number  of  regular 
holidays  are  secured  by  law,  as  in  bygone  ages  the  Church 
did  secure  them  by  her  festivals  for  the  working  poor; 
when  the  hours  of  daily  labour  are  kept  within  reasonable 
limits ;  when  homes  have  been  provided  for  the  people  on 
any  considerable  scale  in  which  the  first  conditions  of 
healthy  living  shall  be  insisted  on;  when  it  shall  have 
been  made  fairly  possible  for  every  poor  man  so  to  better 
his  condition  by  work  as  to  escape  from  poverty  into  com- 
fort ;  and  when  education  shall  have  done  all  that  may 
be  done  towards  furthering  this  result,  legislation  and 
philanthropy  will  have  achieved  what  may  be  fairly 
required  of  them.  Useful  knowledge,  practical  kindness, 
and  beneficent  laws, — these  are  not  the  Gospel ;  but,  like 
philosophy,  they  are,  or  may  be,  its  handmaids.  They 
may  make  its  task  smooth  and  grateful ;  they  may  asso- 
ciate themselves  with  its  victories,  or  they  may  prepare 
its  way. 

But  for  more  important  results  a  higher  force  is  needed ; 
nothing  less  than  the  Christian  faith  itself.  The  faith  of 
Christ  reverses  the  disadvantages  of  poverty  with  decisive 
force.  It  acts  upon  poverty  not  from  without,  but  from 
within ;  it  begins  not  with  legislation,  but  with  hearts  and 


292 


The  Gospel  and  the  Poor.  [Serm. 


minds ;  not  with  circumstances,  but  with  convictions. 
When  this  faith  is  received,  it  forthwith  transfigures  the 
idea  of  labour :  labour  is  no  longer  deemed  a  curse,  but  a 
discipline  ;  work  of  all  kinds  is  sensibly  ennobled  by  being 
done  with  and  for  Jesus  Christ ;  and  by  this  association  it 
acquires  the  character  of  a  kind  of  worship.  When  this 
faith  is  received,  it  sweetens,  consecrates,  elevates  the 
affections  of  the  husband,  of  the  father,  of  the  child;  it 
sets  the  physical  difficulties  of  a  pauper  household  at 
defiance  by  referring  them  to  the  Holy  Home  of  Nazareth; 
or  it  lifts  the  whole  conception  of  human  relationships 
into  an  atmosphere  where  the  risks  to  which  they  are 
ordinarily  exposed  have  ceased  to  exist.  When  this  faith 
is  embraced  it  changes  the  estimate  of  different  conditions 
in  life ;  the  first  become  last,  and  the  last  first.  The  old 
pagan  feeling  was  that  wealth  meant  character ;  that — 

''Quantum  quisque  sua  nummoruni  servat  in  area 
Tantum  habet  et  fidei," 

and  that  poverty  was  fatal  even  to  human  dignity — 

"Nil  habet  infelix  paupertas  durius  in  se 
Quam  quod  ridiculos  homines  facit." 

But  Christian  faith  knows  that  wealth  means  respon- 
sibility, and  that  responsibility  may  come  to  mean  only 
heavy  arrears  of  sin ;  and  it  knows  too  His  Blessed  Name 
Who  worked  as  the  Carpenter's  Son  in  the  shop  at 
Nazareth,  and  Who  shed  upon  the  condition  and  nature 
which  He  made  His  own  the  glories  which  belong  to  the 
Infinite  and  the  Everlasting.  And  thus,  indeed,  it  has 
come  to  pass  in  Christendom  that  the  heirs  of  wealth  and 
station  have  of  their  freewill  sought  lifelong  companionship 
with  the  ignoble  and  the  poor ;  and  that  the  poet's  words 
have  had  a  practical  meaning  of  which  he  little  dreamt — 

"  Plerumque  grata?  divitibus  vices  ; 
Mundseque  parvo  sub  lare  pauperum 
Ccense,  sine  aulseis  et  o&tro, 

Sollicitam  explicuere  frontem." 


XV.]  The  Gospel  and  the  Poor.  293 


II. 

From  what  has  been  said  it  will  have  been  inferred 
I  that  the  work  of  preaching  the  Gospel  to  the  poor  is  very 
far  from  being  either  commonplace  or  easy;  let  us  briefly 
notice  two  mistakes  which  have  been  made  in  under- 
taking it. 

It  has  failed  sometimes  from  a  lack  of  sympathy  with 
the  mental  condition  and  habits  of  the  poor. 

An  educated  man  looks  at  his  religion,  not  merely  as  a 
rule  of  thought  and  life,  but  as  a  theory  or  doctrine  about 

I  the  Unseen,  about  the  universe,  about  human  nature. 
His  mind  is  constantly  playing  about  it,  examining  its 

■  contents,  adjusting  it  with  other  departments  of  thought  or 
knowledge,  or,  as  we  should  say,  treating  it  philosophically. 
There  are  more  ways  than  one  of  doing  this,  as  men  con- 
ceive themselves  to  be  below  truth  or  above  it ;  the  early 

i  Gnostics  illustrate  one  method,  the  Alexandrian  fathers 
another.    But  between  faith  and  this  active  intellectual 

:  interest  in  its  subject-matter  there  is  no  necessary  misun- 
derstanding ;  on  the  contrary,  an  interest  of  this  kind  is 

\  inevitable  in  every  educated  and  thoughtful  Christian.  He 
surveys  his  creed  philosophically,  without  impairing  its 

I  authority  in  thought  and  life ;  and  the  fact  that  the  Chris- 

|  tian  faith  lends  itself  to  this  intellectual  treatment  helps 
to  recommend  it  to  each  generation  of  cultivated  men. 
But  it  is  not  this  way  of  approaching  or  exhibiting 

I  Christianity  which  wins  the  poor.  In  the  questions 
which  are  debated  between  Pievelation  and  particular 
schools  of  criticism,  or  mental  or  physical  science,  the  poor 

;  have  generally  no  part.  They  are  not  sensitively  alive  to 
the  logical  inconsequence,  or  to  the  historical  inaccuracy, 
or  to  the  absence  of  due  method  and  proportion  in  the 
exposition  of  truth  which  vex  their  lettered  brethren.  For 


2Q4 


The  Gospel  and  the  Poor. 


[Serm. 


them  the  whole  region  of  abstract  thought  and  language, 
which  is  so  natural  and  so  welcome  to  cultivated  men  when 
dealing  with  sacred  subjects,  does  not  even  exist.  If 
religion  is  to  reach  them,  its  object  must  be  presented  as 
concrete  and  personal ;  so  presented  as  to  give  the  largest 
amount  of  satisfaction  to  the  spirit  which  is  compatible 
with  the  smallest  demands  upon  the  understanding.  The 
poor  need  religion,  not  as  additional  material  for  specula- 
tive enterprise,  but  as  a  friend  who  can  help  them  along 
the  road  of  life,  and  through  the  great  change  beyond  it. 
For  them  life  is  always  real.  Its  hopes,  its  misgivings,  its 
joys,  its  heartaches,  its  catastrophes,  its  dim  sense  of  the 
seriousness  of  being  where  and  what  we  are,  and  of  the 
possibilities  before  us,  are  quickened  by  poverty.  The 
poor  man,  if  religious  at  all,  must  believe  in  One  Who  is 
not  less  an  Object  of  affection  and  obedience,  than  the 
most  awful  and  sublime  of  intellectual  truths.  And  there- 
fore, in  order  to  win  the  poor,  religion  must  ever  study  to 
be  such  as  she  was  on  His  lips  Who  spoke  in  parables 
and  simple  sayings,  and  Who  taught  all  who  listened  as 
they  were  able  to  bear  it.1 

There  have  been  times  when,  in  their  ministry  to  the 
poor,  the  Christian  clergy  have  failed  to  forget  the  schools. 
And  at  these  times  the  Church  has  lost  the  people.  Such 
a  time  to  a  great  extent,  at  least  in  this  country,  was  the 
last  century.  It  was  indeed  the  age  of  Wilson  and  of 
Butler.  But  it  was  also  the  arid  age  in  which  the  Church 
of  England  ceased  to  be  the  Church  of  the  wdiole  English 
people.  If  an  educated  man  is  to  teach  the  good  tidings 
which  our  Master  brought  from  heaven  to  the  poor,  he 
needs  a  special  gift,  to  which  charity  and  imagination 
should  each  contribute.  In  our  day  imagination  has  been 
withdrawn  from  the  exclusive  jurisdiction  of  the  poets  ;  it 
has  been  welcomed  by  a  high  authority  as  the  pioneer  of 
1  St.  John  xvi.  12.    St.  Mark  iv.  33. 


XV.]  The  Gospel  and  the  Poor.  295 

even  scientific  venture;1  it  has  been  bidden,  not  in  vain, 
to  reconstruct  out  of  few  and  dead  materials  the  once 
living  past  of  history.  Why  should  not  a  Christian  love 
of  souls  enlist  the  services  of  this  versatile  faculty,  and 
bid  it  enter  with  sympathy  into  the  mind  and  life  of  the 
poor  man,  that  it  may  lead  him  to  acknowledge  the  truths 
which,  after  all,  are  best  worth  knowing  ? 

The  other  mistake  referred  to  has  lain  in  an  opposite 
direction.  Men  who  have  sympathized  warmly  with  the 
mental  difficulties  of  the  poor  have  endeavoured  to  recom- 
mend the  Christian  faith,  sometimes  by  making  unwar- 
ranted or  semi-legendary  additions  to  it.  and  sometimes  by 
virtually  mutilating  it. 

No  impartial  student  can  deny  that  throughout  its 
history  the  Eoman  Church  has  been  the  teacher  of  the 
poor.  It  has  peculiarly  inherited  the  aspirations  and  the 
anxieties  of  that  troubled  age  when,  standing  on  the  ruins 
of  the  old  Empire,  Christendom  found  itself  face  to  face 
with  the  task  of  converting  its  barbarian  conquerors.  The 
difficulty  of  that  task,  perhaps  more  than  any  other  cause, 
has  resulted  in  developing  some  of  the  popular  features 
of  Latin  Christianity.  If  the  question,  "What  is  true?" 
was  not  forgotten  by  the  evangelists  of  the  seventh  and 
eighth  centuries,  it  was  less  present  to  them  than  the 
question,  "What  is  edifying?"  And  this  tendency  cul- 
minated in  the  active  efforts  of  those  great  Orders  which 
played  so  considerable  a  part  in  Western  Christendom 
during  the  ages  preceding  the  Eeformation.  Like  the  first 
preachers  of  Christianity,  they  were  largely  sprung  from, 
and  were  friends  of,  the  people ;  the  street  nomenclature 
of  our  old  English  towns  still  reminds  us  that  they  made 
their  home  among  the  poor.  But  side  by  side  with  their 
sincere,  even  passionate  devotion  to  the  Person  of  our  Lord, 
there  were  other  features  of  their  work  dictated  rather  by  an 

1  Professor  Tyndall. 


296 


The  Gospel  and  the  Poor. 


[Serm. 


anxiety  to  popularize  Christianity  than  by  a  zeal  for  God 
according  to  knowledge.  Hence,  for  example,  a  whole 
family  of  new  devotions,  unthought  of  in  early  ages,  and 
often  inspired  by  local  or  temporary  enthusiasms ;  hence  a 
totally  new  position,  disclaimed  by  scientific  theology,  but 
certainly  assigned  in  popular  language  and  thought  to 
Mary;  hence  such  strange  outgrowths  of  the  old  peni- 
tential system  of  the  Church  as  the  system  of  indulgences, 
which  is  in  its  practical  aspects  rather  a  commercial  than 
a  theological  conception ;  hence  the  graceful  but  baseless 
legends  which  sprang  from  the  imagination  of  the  people, 
and  which  in  turn  attracted  it,  but  which,  before  the 
sixteenth  century  had  dawned,  were  already  threatening 
to  bring  about  in  Italy  a  rebellion  of  educated  thought 
against  the  whole  creed  of  Christendom. 

The  Eeformation  came.  It  often  did  its  work  by  tyran- 
nical or  rude  hands;  and  sometimes  it  left  behind  it 
crude  exaggerations  or  unsightly  ruins.  But  at  least  it 
did  effect  for  a  section  of  the  Western  Church  one  signal 
service :  it  cut  away  that  coating  of  legendary  and  unpri- 
mitive  matter  which,  in  the  course  of  preaching  the  Gospel 
to  the  poor,  had  partly  overlaid  the  faith  of  the  Apostles. 
To  many  a  pious  soul,  no  doubt,  the  operation  was  painful; 
for  religious  feeling,  like  the  ivy,  will  often  fasten  upon 
the  crumbling  cement  as  eagerly  and  as  trustfully  as  on 
the  rock  which  defies  the  storm.  But  looking  to  the 
intrinsic  nature  and  to  the  permanent  interests  of  Chris- 
tianity— looking  on  to  the  ages  of  criticism,  then  looming 
in  the  distance,  and  which  are  now  upon  us — it  must  be 
felt  that  this  corrective  and  expurgatory  action  of  the 
Eeformation  has  been  a  substantial  service  to  the  Christian 
faith. 

On  the  other  hand,  in  later  days  warm-hearted  men  have 
sought  to  popularize  the  Gospel  by  methods  which  have 
involved,  however  unintentionally,  its  mutilation.  The 


XV.] 


The  Gospel  and  the  Poor. 


297 


so-termed  Evangelical  movement  was,  in  its  origin,  a 
serious  and  noble  attempt  to  reawaken  a  sense  of  what 
was  due  to  their  faith  in  the  heart  of  the  English  people. 
No  one  can  read  Mr.  William  Wilberforce's  "  Practical 
View  of  Christianity"  without  respect  for  the  motives 
which  inspired  that  remarkable  work,  and  for  the  move- 
ment of  which  it  was  a  typical  expression.  Mr.  Wilberforce 
thought  that  Christianity  was  dying  out,  as  a  practical 
power,  from  the  thoughts  and  lives  of  Englishmen,  and 
that  a  great  effort  was  needed  to  reaffirm  its  claims.  In 
prosecuting  this  effort  its  pioneers  were  largely  attracted  by 
an  expression  of  St.  Paul.  When  St.  Paul  spoke  of  "  the 
simplicity  that  is  in  Christ," 1  they  understood  him  to 
sanction  a  very  narrow  estimate  of  the  contents  of  the 
Christian  Creed  that  would  go  far  to  ensure  its  acceptance 
by  the  people.  "  The  simplicity  of  the  Gospel !"  That  was 
a  phrase  by  repeating  which  they  made  their  way ;  and  by 
f  the  Gospel "  they  meant  the  doctrine  of  our  Lord's  atoning 
death,  the  justification  of  the  sinner  through  faith  in  His 
merits,  and  the  sanctifying  influence  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 
These  precious  truths  are,  no  doubt,  essential  features  of 
the  good  news  which  is  taught  in  the  New  Testament. 
But  they  are  very  far  indeed  from  being  the  whole  of  it ; 
they  are  only  a  fragment  of  the  real  creed  of  St.  Paul  and 
St.  John.  Had  such  an  account  of  "the  Gospel"  been 
exhaustive,  some  four  chapters  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Eomans 
and  two  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Galatians  would  have  enabled 
us  to  dispense  with  the  rest  of  the  New  Testament;  the 
disclosures  of  the  Inner  Life  of  God,  the  example  of  our 
Divine  Saviour,  the  purpose  and  the  grace  of  the  Chris- 
tian sacraments,  the  principles  and  precepts  of  Christian 
morality,  the  nature  and  structure  of  the  Christian  Church, 
would  have  been  superfluous,  or  even  misleading  additions. 
To  such  an  impoverished  estimate  of  the  Gospel  as  that  in 

1  2  Cor.  xi.  3. 


298 


The  Gospel  and  the  Poor. 


[Serm. 


question  a  discriminating  criticism  and  a  consistent  faith 
must  equally  object;  it  retains  too  little,  unless  indeed 
it  includes  too  much.  In  truth,  like  the  experiments  of 
an  opposite  kind  which  have  been  noticed,  it  was  the 
product  of  unconscious  but  excessive  deference  to  the 
empire  of  a  single  and  generous  motive;  it  sprang  from 
the  passion  to  help  the  people,  from  the  desire  at  almost 
any  cost  to  reach  the  heart  of  the  poor. 

These  considerations,  then,  may  lead  us  to  reflect  that 
the  connection  implied  in  the  text  between  the  presence  of 
the  Spirit  and  the  task  of  evangelizing  the  poor  is  not, 
after  all,  so  surprising.  To  be  sympathetic  yet  sincere; 
true  to  the  message  which  has  come  from  heaven,  yet  alive 
to  the  difficulties  of  conveying  it  to  untutored  minds  and 
hearts ;  sensible  of  the  facilities  which  a  few  unauthorized 
additions  or  mutilations  would  lend  to  the  work  in  hand, 
yet  resolved  to  decline  them, — this  is  not  easy.  For  such 
a  work  something  higher  is  needed  than  natural  quickness 
of  wit  or  strength  of  will,  even  His  aid  Who,  as  on  this 
day,  taught  the  peasants  of  Galilee  in  the  upper  chamber 
to  speak  as  with  tongues  of  fire,  and  in  languages  which 
men  of  many  nations  could  understand.  And  the  effort 
for  which  He  thus  equipped  them  continues  still;  and 
His  aid,  adapted  to  new  circumstances,  is  present  with  us 
as  it  was  with  them.  Never  was  that  aid,  never  was  this 
work,  more  needed  than  in  our  own  generation.  It  was  a 
saying  of  De  Tocqueville's  that,  "  if  the  great  questions  of 
the  beginning  of  this  century  were  mainly  political,  those 
which  will  convulse  the  world  at  its  close  will  be  social." 
Already  there  is  an  uneasy  apprehension  that  this  pre- 
diction may  be  realized ;  and  as  men  look  around  them 
for  reassurance  and  protection,  they  will  find  it  nowhere 
save  in  a  more  sincere  and  general  acceptance,  on  the  part 


XV.] 


The  Gospel  and  the  Poor. 


299 


of  all  classes  in  society,  of  that  Divine  religion  which 
Christ  has  taught  us.  Of  course  piety,  even  more  than 
charity,  must  begin  at  home.  But  as  a  Christian  patriot, 
what  can  a  young  man  do  better  with  his  life  than  offer  it 
to  God  for  the  work  of  preaching  the  Gospel  to  the  poor  ? 
Doubtless  the  Gospel  is  preached,  indirectly  but  effectively, 
by  the  example  of  Christian  laymen,  and  especially  by  the 
efforts  which  they  make  to  improve  the  condition,  temporal 
and  spiritual,  of  their  poorer  brethren ;  and  the  lot  of  a 
clergyman,  living  in  a  remote  agricultural  district,  or  in 
the  back  streets  of  a  manufacturing  town,  is  often  con- 
trasted disadvantageously  with  the  career  of  some  friend 
who  has  made  his  mark  in  politics  or  in  literature.  But 
it  is  more  than  doubtful  whether,  when  from  another  state 
of  being  we  look  back  upon  this  life,  we  shall  indorse  this 
judgment.  Our  brief  tenure  of  earthly  existence  is  best 
spent  in  doing  what  we  may  for  the  lasting  happiness  of 
others ;  and  it  is  a  sufficient  answer  to  the  promptings  of 
natural  modesty  or  timidity,  that  the  Eternal  Spirit  rests 
upon  Christ's  servants  to  the  end  of  time,  to  give  them  the 
charity,  the  wisdom,  and  the  courage  which  are  needed  by 
the  evangelists  of  the  poor. 


SERMON  XVI. 


CHRIST  AND  HUMAN  LAW.1 


St.  John  xix.  10,  n. 


Then  saith  Pilate  unto  Him,  Spcakest  Tlwu  not  unto  me?  knowest 
Thou  not  that  I  have  povser  to  crucify  Thee,  and  have  power  to  release 
Thee  ?  Jesus  answered,  Thou  couldest  have  no  power  at  all  against  Me, 
except  it  were  given  thee  from  above  :  therefore  he  that  delivered  Me  unto 
thee  hath  the  greater  sin. 


EYEE,  in  the  whole  course  of  the  world's  history, 


-L*  were  the  forms  of  justice  degraded  to  serve  a  purpose 
which,  in  point  of  moral  criminality  and  baseness,  can 
compare  with  the  condemnation  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth. 
Never  has  the  administration  of  human  law  received  a 
sanction  so  authoritative  as  that  which  was  bestowed  on 
the  tribunal  of  Pilate.  Jesus  said  unto  him, "  Thou  couldest 
have  no  power  at  all  against  Me,  except  it  were  given  thee 
from  above."  Pilate,  agitated  by  some  scruple  of  which 
he  could  not  rid  himself,  and  little  dreaming  of  the  real 
scope  of  his  question,  had  asked  our  Lord,  "  Whence  art 
Thou  ? "  In  his  then  frame  of  mind  the  Roman  judge 
would  probably  have  regarded  the  full  answer  as  unin- 
telligible or  ridiculous ;  while  our  Lord's  silence,  at  once  so 
merciful  to  His  questioner  and  so  majestic  in  itself,  was 
in  correspondence  with  His  rule  of  withholding  spiritual 

1  Preached  before  Mr.  Justice  Hannen  and  Mr.  Justice  Keating.  H<;r 
Majesty's  Judges  of  Assize,  Feb.  28,  1869. 


Christ  and  Human  Law, 


301 


knowledge  from  minds  which  are,  through  indifference,  or 
scornfulness,  or  some  incurable  perverseness,  unfitted  to 
receive  it.  But  to  the  Roman  judge  the  silence  of  Jesus 
wore  the  aspect  of  a  sullen  contumacy,  if  not  of  a  studied 
contempt  of  court ;  and  in  Pilate's  next  question  we  observe 
the  spirit  of  an  official,  accustomed  to  revel  in  the  sense  of 
his  wielding  a  fraction  of  the  imperial  authority,  and  irri- 
tated at  encountering  even  a  momentary  resistance  to  the 
bias  of  his  personal  will.  "  Speakest  Thou  not  unto  me  ? 
knowest  Thou  not  that  I  have  power  to  crucify  Thee,  and 
have  power  to  release  Thee  ? "  Without  noticing  this 
appeal  to  hopes  and  fears  natural  to  a  prisoner  on  trial  for 
his  life,  our  Lord  replies  by  pointing  to  the  real  source  of 
that  authority,  the  exercise  of  which  appeared  to  His  judge 
to  be  within  the  province  of  personal  caprice.  "  Thou 
couldest  have  no  power  at  all  against  Me,  except  it  were 
siven  thee  from  above." 

Now,  in  this  passage,  what  is  the  sense  of  the  emphatic 
but  purposely  indefinite  word  avaiQev  ?  To  refer  it  with 
Semler  to  the  action  of  the  high  Sanhedrin  which  had 
actually  given  Christ  into  the  hands  of  the  Eomans,  is  to 
make  our  Lord  lay  down  a  very  questionable  proposition, 
namely,  that  He  could  not  have  been  brought  before  the 
Roman  lay  tribunal  unless  the  Jewish  spiritual  court  had 
authorized  it.  To  explain  avwQev  with  another  modern 
critic 1  as  an  allusion  to  the  higher  power  of  the  Roman 
Caesar,  whose  deputy  and  representative  Pilate  was,  is  to 
suppose  that  our  Lord,  in  that  supreme  moment  of  His 
moral  victory,  was  capable  of  making  a  petty  criticism 
upon  the  constitution  of  the  Roman  Empire,  as  intrusting 
too  great  and  too  arbitrary  a  power  to  the  hands  of  the 
local  magistracy.  There  is  no  undercurrent  of  complaint 
on  this  or  any  like  score  in  these  majestic  words ;  since 
again  and  again  our  Lord  refers  to  His  Father's  counsel 

1  Usteri,  quoted  by  Stier. 


302 


Christ  and  Htiman  Law,  [Serm. 


and  the  Divine  Providence  as  determining  all  the  circum- 
stances of  His  death.  Who  does  not  see  in  this  avcoOev 
a  profound  glance  at  Pilate's  own  question  which  his 
Prisoner  had  left  unanswered — "Whence  art  Thou?" 
"  Thy  power,"  our  Lord  implies,  u  is  from  that  higher  world 
with  which  thy  secret  irrepressible  presentiment  associates 
Me ;  that  world  of  which  I  know  and  proclaim  the  secrets." 
This  is  hinted;  it  is  not  said.  Our  Lord  does  not  ex- 
pressly say  that  Pilate's  power  is  u  from  God."  He  does 
not  even  say  that  it  is  "  from  heaven."  He  will  not  open 
large  theological  questions  before  a  pagan  court.  He  will 
not  furnish  material  for  blasphemy.  He  will  not  give  that 
which  is  holy  to  the  dogs,  or  cast  pearls  before  swine. 
And  yet  by  an  expression,  deliberately  vague,  He  recog- 
nises the  indefinite  surmises,  it  may  be  the  dawning  con- 
victions, of  His  judge.  Pilate  would  have  felt  the  force  of 
our  Lord's  avwQev,  yet  it  would  have  raised  in  him  no  con- 
troversy ;  our  Lord  would  have  used  it  just  as  naturally 
before  Caesar's  own  tribunal  as  before  the  tribunal  of 
Caesar's  deputy.  The  administration  of  Roman  justice, 
with  all  its  partialities,  with  all  its  personal  tyrannies  and 
caprices,  was  still  "from  above;"  and  this  particular 
exercise  of  the  Eoman  authority  over  the  Divine  Prisoner 
before  it  was  itself  a  matter  of  special  appointment.2  The 
words  which  follow  imply  that  Pilate's  coming  use  of 
his  authority  would  be  sinful,  for  other  reasons,  and  as  in- 
volving the  sacrifice  of  his  own  sense  of  justice  to  popular 
clamour.  Mark  the  calm  of  the  moral  atmosphere  which 
surrounds  the  Soul  of  Jesus.  Where  a  strong  human 
feeling  would  almost  naturally  exaggerate,  Jesus  will 
weigh  scrupulously  the  exact  extent  of  the  sin  of  Pilate. 
It  was  less  than  the  sin  of  Caiaphas  and  the  Jews  who 
had  delivered  Jesus  into  the  hands  of  the  Romans ;  but  it 
was  a  grave  sin,  especially  because  it  prostituted  to  pur- 

1  Cf.  Stier,  Eeden  Jesu,  in  he.  2  dedo/xevov. 


XVL] 


Christ  and  Human  Law. 


303 


poses  of  earthly  passion  the  exercise  of  an  authority  which 
had  a  higher  than  earthly  sanction.  "  Thou  couldest  have 
had  no  power  at  all  against  Me,  except  it  were  given  thee 
from  above :  therefore  he  that  delivered  Me  unto  thee  hath 
the  greater  sin." 

L 

Our  Lord's  words  then  teach,  first  of  all,  that  human  law 
and  the  authority  which  wields  it  are  from  God.  This  is 
the  deeper  ground  of  His  earlier  precept  to  *  render  unto 
Caesar  the  things  which  are  Caesar's,"  and  of  His  own  practice 
as  based  upon  it.1  The  Apostles  repeat  the  general  doctrine 
under  circumstances  which  tested  its  application  severely. 
Writing  to  Eoman  citizens,  when  Nero  was  on  the  throne, 
St.  Paul  bade  every  soul  be  "  subject  to  the  higher  powers," 
on  the  ground  that  "  there  is  no  power  but  of  God,"  and 
that  "the  powers  that  be  are  ordained  of  God."2  Writing 
to  provincials  in  the  Proconsular  Asia,  on  the  eve,  as  it 
would  seem,  of  an  anticipated  persecution,  St.  Peter  bids 
them  "  submit  themselves  to  every  ordinance  of  man  for 
the  Lord's  sake,  whether  to  the  emperor,  as  chief  of  the 
state,  or  to  his  representatives."3  St.  Peter's  phrase  ktictis 
avOpcowLvrj  marks  the  fact  that  civil  government,  although 
its  original  sanctions  are  divine,  is  human  in  its  immediate 
origin.  Here  civil  government  differs  from  that  of  the 
Christian  Church.  The  Apostles  were  immediately  ap- 
pointed by  our  Lord  Himself;  whereas  civil  power  is 
derived  from  Him  only  mediately,  although  really,  through 
the  force  of  events,  through  dynastic  struggles,  or  through 
the  will  of  the  people. 

1  St.  Matt.  xxii.  21.    St.  Mark  xii.  17.    St.  Luke  xx.  25. 

2  Rom.  xiii.  1. 

3  I  St.  Pet.  ii.  13,  VTTOTdyrjre  ovv  Trd-ay  avdpwrrivri  KTtVei  5td  rbv  Kvpiov, 
eixe  fiaaikei,  ws  virepexovri,  etre  TYyefjibcriv,  u>s  01  avrov  7re/>i7ro/xeVots. 


304 


Christ  and  Human  Law. 


[Serm. 


If  we  look  to  the  historical  influences  which  have 
actually  enacted  human  codes,  and  which  have  governed 
their  administration,  it  is  at  first  difficult  to  understand 
the  sanctity  which  is  thus  attributed  to  the  law  and  its 
ministers.  And  if,  further,  we  examine  the  contents  of 
human  codes,  and  observe  how  far  short  they  fall  of 
enforcing,  even  within  the  limits  that  must  bound  all 
attempts  at  such  enforcement,  anything  like  an  absolute 
morality,  this  difficulty  is  not  diminished.  Between  law 
and  equity  there  is,  perhaps  there  must  always  be,  a  con- 
siderable interval.  Between  law  and  absolute  morality 
there  is  at  times  patent  contradiction.  The  undue  pro- 
tection of  class  interests,  the  neglect  of  the  interests  of 
large  classes  ;  the  legislation  which  consults,  chiefly  and 
above  all  else,  the  profit  of  the  legislator,  whether  he  be 
king,  or  noble,  or  popular  assembly ;  the  legislation  which 
postpones  moral  to  material  interests,  and  which  makes 
havoc  of  man's  highest  good  in  order  to  gratify  his  lower 
instincts,  his  passing  caprice,  his  unreasoning  passion ; — all 
this  and  much  else  appears  to  forbid  enthusiasm  for  human 
law.  The  moral  element  in  it  is  so  mixed  with  alloy,  that 
statute  law  must  often  repel  a  well-trained  moral  judgment. 
Who  could  feel  enthusiasm  for  law  as  represented  by 
Pilate  ?  If  in  the  case  of  a  Eoman  provincial  governor  it 
was  really  possible  to  distinguish  between  the  law  and  the 
will  of  its  administrator,  certain  it  is  that  in  Pilate  the 
judge,  and  not  the  law,  speaks  to  Jesus ;  the  judge  whose 
will  is  independent  of  law,  aud,  as  it  might  seem,  of 
evidence;  the  judge  who  feels  that  his  caprice,  his  irritation, 
his  cowardice,  his  inertness  can  make  law,  as  the  case  pro- 
ceeds, for  the  prisoner  before  him  ;  the  judge  who  can  even 
exult  in  his  sense  of  power  over  life  and  death,  apparently 
without  being  distressed  by  any  sense  of  an  accompanying 
responsibility.  "  Knowest  Thou  not  that  I  have  power  to 
crucify  Thee,  and  have  power  to  release  Thee  ? "  And 


XVI.]         Christ  and  Human  Law,  305 


Pilate  is  not  alone  in  history.  Even  English  justice  is  said 
by  popular  traditions,  still  current  and  stroug  in  the  western 
counties,  to  have  sacrificed  the  impartial  majesty  of  law 
to  the  tyranny  of  political  passion  when  Judge  Jeffreys 
represented  her  at  Exeter  and  Taunton.1  And  the  question 
is,  How  can  it  be  said  of  courts  which  habitually  administer 
fear,  or  prejudice,  or  contempt,  or  moral  indifference  under 
the  forms  and  in  the  disguise  of  law,  that  a  sanction  still 
rests  upon  them,  and  should  be  recognised  in  them,  which 
has  been  "  given  from  above  "  ? 

The  answer  to  this  is  to  be  found  in  the  conditions  under 
which  human  law  is  permitted  to  exist  at  all.  I  say  "  is 
permitted  to  exist ; "  for  the  restraint  which  law  lays 
successively  upon  each  one  of  the  individuals  who  submit 
to  it  would  be  fatal  to  its  permanence,  unless  there  were  a 
general  and  instinctive  conviction  of  its  being  altogether 
necessary.  In  point  of  fact,  and  historically  speaking,  law 
is  created  by  and  meets  a  great  social  want.  It  satisfies 
the  demand  for  protection  against  the  passions  of  anger 
and  desire  which  are  the  motive  forces  in  the  lives  of 
those  multitudes  of  men  who  are  unchastened,  undis- 
ciplined by  religious  influences.  These  exacting  and 
powerful  passions,  which  make  the  higher  elements  of  our 
nature  so  constantly  their  slaves,  are  the  incessant  revolu- 
tionists, against  which  society,  if  it  would  exist,  must  take 
due  precautions.  "  From  whence  come  wars  and  fightings 
among  you  ?  Come  they  not  hence,  even  of  your  lusts  that 
war  in  your  members  ?  Ye  lust,  and  have  not ;  ye  kill, 
and  desire  to  have,  and  cannot  obtain.  "  2  Such  is  man's 
nature,  until  its  governing  principle  has  been  altogether 
changed  by  Christ  our  Lord;  it  is  an  alternation  of  the 
passion  of  desire  with  the  twin  passion  of  irritation,  roused 
at  the   necessary  disappointments   which   desire  must 

1  Macaulay.  History  of  England,  i.  651  (ed.  1S56). 

2  St.  James  iv.  1,  2. 

U 


306  Christ  and  Human  Law.  [Serm. 

encounter ;  and  hence,  from  time  to  time,  the  propensity 
to  violent  outbreaks,  of  individuals  or  of  multitudes,  which 
are  fatal  to  the  security  of  property,  of  character,  and  of 
life. 

Now  society  cannot  protect  itself  effectually  against 
these  foes,  who,  in  varying  degrees,  have  dealings  with  and 
a  hold  upon  each  of  its  members — these  implacable  foes  who 
are  ever  ready  to  break  it  up  from  within — unless  it  is 
prepared  to  recognise  and  to  put  in  force  at  least  three 
great  moral  laws  of  God  whereon  it  is  itself  based.  The 
first  business  of  the  legislator  is  to  protect  human  life 
against  violence ;  the  second,  to  protect  the  due  transmis- 
sion of  human  life ;  the  third,  to  protect  the  means  whereby 
human  life  is  supported.  In  other  words,  every  human 
code  must  aim  at  enforcing  more  or  less  perfectly  the 
sixth,  seventh,  and  eighth  commandments,  if  it  is  to  do  its 
work  of  protecting  society  against  dissolution.  The  three 
remaining  commandments  of  the  second  table  of  the  Deca- 
logue, the  law  of  reverence  for  parents,  the  law  against 
detraction,  and  the  law  against  covetousness,  are  indeed 
in  a  high  degree  precious  as  upholding  and  invigorating 
the  social  fabric;  reverence  for  superiors,  charity  for  all 
men,  and  contentedness  with  a  man's  actual  circum- 
stances, are  very  fair  guarantees  in  their  way  against 
indulgence  in  murder,  or  adultery,  or  theft.  Of  these 
three  commandments,  however,  the  fifth,  the  ninth,  and 
the  tenth,  two  are,  in  the  letter,  more  evangelical  than  the 
other  three ;  they  belong  more  to  the  sphere  of  motive,  and 
less  to  that  of  outward  acts.  And  they  all  provide,  in  the 
first  instance,  for  the  sanctity  and  perfection  of  the  indi- 
vidual soul;  they  may  be  violated  on  a  large  scale,  not, 
indeed,  without  much  social  discomfort  and  distress,  but 
certainly  without  threatening  the  actual  dissolution  of 
society.  It  is  not  thus  with  the  Divine  precepts  against 
murder,  against  adultery,  against  theft.    These  prohibitions 


XVI.]         Christ  and  Human  Law.  307 


guard  principles  which  are  the  main  arches  on  which  the 
social  structure  rests.  Eespect  for  human  life,  respect  for 
the  marriage  tie,  respect  for  property; — here  are  prin- 
ciples which  every  legislator  must  keep  steadily  in  view ; 
principles  which  must  be  the  soul  of  the  most  despotic 
and  of  the  most  popular  of  codes ;  principles  which  cannot 
be  defied,  which  cannot  even  be  trifled  with,  without 
tolerating,  not  merely  the  serious  injury  of  one  man  and  the 
grave  criminality  of  another,  but  a  neglect  of  the  vital 
conditions  under  which  alone  organized  human  life  can  be 
maintained.  Forms  of  government  may  vary,  have  varied, 
will  vary,  to  the  end  of  human  history.  But  so  long  as  men 
shall  live  together,  law  must  in  these  main  features  be 
invariable.  And  we  cannot  too  carefully  bear  in  mind, 
that  while  the  largest  licence  of  political  opinion  is  not 
merely  consistent  with  the  safety,  but  scarcely  other  than 
essential  to  the  wellbeing  of  society,  we  no  sooner  call  in 
question  by  word  or  act  the  great  laws  to  which  reference 
has  just  now  been  made,  than  we  do  what  we  can  towards 
bringing  about,  with  all  the  accompanying  ruin  and  dis- 
tress, utter  social  chaos  and  anarchy. 

If,  indeed,  human  law  were  a  matter  of  infinite  caprice : 
if  it  were  bound  to  no  necessary  trutbs,  and  bounded  by 
no  inexorable  conditions ;  to  ascribe  to  it  any  heavenly 
sanction  would  be  impossible.  But  tied  down  as  it  is  to 
the  particular  work  of  protecting  society,  it  must  enforce 
the  principles  which  are  practically  essential  to  such  pro- 
tection. However  imperfectly  it  may  do  so;  however 
these  fundamental  principles  may  be  misapplied,  or  over- 
laid by  selfish  or  inefficient  legislation;  they  remain  as  the 
heart  and  core  of  all  human  law,  while  they  are  themselves 
Divine.  The  dream  of  any  voluntary  social  compact  as 
the  basis  of  government  has  long  since  been  rejected,  if  it 
was  ever  seriously  entertained,  by  the  thought  of  Europe  ; 
whether  men  believe  in  God  or  not,  they  understand  that 


3o8 


Christ  and  Hitman  Law.  [Serm. 


the  central  laws  which  keep  society  together  are  not 
matters  of  human  choice,  but  are  necessary  and  inevitable. 
And  for  those  who  do  believe  in  a  Creator  and  a  Pro- 
vidence, this  necessity  of  such  laws  is  itself  eloquent ;  it 
tells  them  of  God's  mind  and  will,  ay,  of  the  very  har- 
monies of  His  own  moral  life,  translated  into  the  sphere  of 
creaturely  existence;  impressed  upon  that  which  is  not 
less  His  gift  and  work,  than  are  human  thought  and  human 
language;  impressed  indelibly  upon,  indissolubly  bound 
up  with,  the  very  being  and  structure  of  society. 

This,  then,  was  the  sense  of  our  Lord's  words  to  Pilate ; 
cruel  and  cowardly  as  was  the  Eoman  judge,  he  yet 
wielded  a  jurisdiction,  he  administered  a  code  which  was 
in  a  sense  Divine.  He  was  not  free  to  do  his  work  at  all 
upon  the  tribunal  which  he  occupied  without  enforcing, 
amid  whatever  grave  aberrations,  some  of  the  moral  laws 
of  God.  It  mattered  not  that  he  was  presently  about  to 
condemn  the  absolute  Purity  Itself;  the  Truth  Which  he 
would  condemn  Itself  proclaimed  that  the  very  power 
which  he  would  abuse  in  condemning  It  was  given  him 
from  above. 

•  II. 

But  our  Lord's  words  also  suggest  the  grave  evil  of  any 
discord  between  the  interests  of  Religion  and  the  enact- 
ments  or  action  of  civil  law.  "  He  that  delivered  Me  unto 
thee  hath  the  greater  sin."  Pilate's  condemnation  of  the 
Just  One  would  be  sinful ;  but  a  greater  sin  wTould  lie  at 
the  door  of  those  who  had  given  Pilate  occasion  to  try 
Him.  It  is  the  very  sacredness  of  law  which  makes  an 
antagonism  between  it  and  Religion  so  seriously  deplorable. 
If  law  were  altogether  a  thing  of  human  device  and  manu- 
facture, religious  men  might  leave  it,  without  much  scruple 
or  anxiety,  to  encounter  the  fate  which  mast  ultimately 


XVI.]         Christ  and  Hitman  Law.  309 


await  it,  when  it  is  engaged  in  conflict  with  Revealed 
Truth.  But  because  law  itself  embodies  primary  moral 
truth  of  the  highest  importance ;  because  it  is  so  far  derived 
from  the  same  source  as,  and  can  claim  like  sanctions  with 
Religion  herself;  a  discord  between  law  and  Religion  is 
not  simply  discord  between  the  human  and  the  Divine,  but 
discord  between  one  department  of  God's  moral  kingdom 
and  another. 

Such  a  discord  may  arise  when  the  statute-book  con- 
tains provisions  which  are  at  issue  either  with  natural  or 
revealed  morality. 

Here  it  is  necessary  to  guard  against  a  possible  exag- 
geration, based  upon  the  presumption  that  human  law  can 
be  made  to  cover  the  whole  field  of  personal  moral  obliga- 
tions. This  has  been  from  time  to  time  the  dream,  the 
aspiration,  of  noble  souls,  eager  to  heighten  the  functions 
of  law,  and  to  give  forcible  expression  to  the  obligations  of 
morality;  longing  for  their  country's  sake  to  make  civic 
virtue,  as  nearly  as  might  be,  a  convertible  term  with  abso- 
lute virtue,  and  to  see  the  good  man,  without  further  doubt 
or  inquiry,  in  the  good  citizen.  It  is  to  the  honour  of 
Puritanism  that,  in  its  earlier  days,  when  it  was  morally 
and  intellectually  stronger  than  it  is  now,  it  cherished  this 
aspiration  with  a  self-denying  fervour.  And  if  the  legal 
annals  of  the  New  England  colonies  provoke  the  indigna- 
tion or  the  amusement  of  the  modern  historian,  this  should 
not  prevent  our  doing  justice  to  a  sincere,  albeit  a  mis- 
taken effort,  to  identify  absolutely  the  interests  of  religious 
morality  with  those  of  law.  Such  an  effort,  indeed,  was 
only  possible  in  a  small  community ;  and  it  has  left,  we 
may  fear,  the  almost  inevitable  legacy  of  a  reaction  against 
the  moral  ideas  which  prompted  it ;  a  reaction  which  has 
not  yet  died  out.  As  it  is,  in  the  old  and  complex  societies 
of  modern  Europe,  we  resign  ourselves  to  a  much  lower 
idea  of  the  possible  functions  of  law.    Law  deals  with 


31  o  Christ  and  Human  Law.  [Serm. 

only  so  much  morality  as  it  is  necessary  to  enforce  in 
order  to  secure  the  safety  of  society ;  unlike  morality,  it 
penetrates  into  the  sphere  of  motive  only  incidentally ;  it 
measures  and  judges  of  the  outward  and  the  tangible ;  its 
certificate  of  civil  excellence  is  no  certificate  whatever  of 
religious  excellence;  it  makes  no  pretensions  to  wield  any 
penetrating  empire  over  conduct  and  conscience,  such  as  is 
claimed  by  the  precepts  of  the  Gospel,  by  the  law  of  the 
Church  of  Christ. 

But  if  civil  law  does  not  attempt  to  enforce  all  the 
obligations  of  morality  upon  a  Christian  man,  it  may,  at 
least,  avoid  enactments  which  are  in  conflict  with  the 
Christian  conscience.  And  if  I  here  proceed  to  illustrate 
my  meaning,  it  is  not  with  any  wanton  desire  to  provoke 
or  to  reanimate  controversy ;  but  in  the  hope  that  thought- 
ful men,  w^ho  love  their  country  and  their  God,  will  give 
to  what  is  indeed  a  grave  matter  the  needful  consideration. 

If  there  be  one  point  more  than  others  stamped  upon 
the  very  face  of  our  Lord's  moral  teaching  in  the  Gospels, 
it  is  that  He  raised  the  law  of  marriage  far  above  the 
standard  of  Gentile  or  even  of  Jewish  morality.1  Moses 
had  allowed  a  bill  of  divorcement;  but  Christ  reaffirms, 
without  exception,  the  original  law,  "What  God  hath 
joined  together  let  no  man  put  asunder."2  In  other  words, 
He  proclaims  the  indissolubility  of  the  marriage  tie. 
Alluding  to  the  Jewish  law,  He  rules  that  if  an  unacknow- 
ledged act  of  fornication  on  the  part  of  the  woman  had 
preceded  the  contract,  the  apparent  tie  may  be  dissolved.3 

1  St.  Matt.  v.  27-32  ;  xix.  3-9.    Deut.  xxiv.  1,  2. 

2  St.  Matt.  xix.  6. 

3  St.  Matt.  v.  32,  irapeKTos  \6yov  vopveias  ;  xix.  9,  el  fxi]  ewl  iropvdq.. 
"  Those  who  think,"  says  Dollinger,  "that  in  His  two  statements  about 
marriage,  given  by  Matthew,  Christ  meant  that  it  was  dissolved  or  dis- 
soluble by  adultery  on  either  side,  are  compelled  (1)  to  maintain,  that  the 
word  iropvela  may  mean  adultery,  (2)  to  find  a  ground  for  its  being  used 
in  a  crucial  passage  instead  of  the  ordinary  word  p-oix^a.,  (3)  to  maintain 


XVI. 


Christ  and  Hitman  Law.  311 


I  say,  the  apparent  tie ;  because  in  reality  the  contract  was 
vitiated  from  the  first ;  one  of  the  contracting  parties  was 

the  principle,  that  one  act  of  adultery  on  either  side,  ipso  facto,  dissolves 
marriage."  Now  iropveta  always  means  incontinence  in  the  unmarried; 
never  incontinence  in  the  married,  or  adultery.  There  is  no  ground  for 
making  iropveia  a  generic  term  including  adultery.  But  supposing  that 
iropveia  could  be  used  for  adulterium,  why  should  the  word  be  used  in 
two  passages  where  it  was  essential  to  define  accurately  the  one  ground 
for  the  dissolution  of  marriage  ?  Our  Lord  uses  the  equivalent  to  the 
word  /ioixeta  more  than  once  in  both  passages :  why  should  He  suddenly 
substitute  iropveia  for  it,  if  He  only  meant  adultery  after  all? 

The  theory  that  an  act  of  adultery,  eo  ipso,  destroys  marriage,  so  that  the 
legal  pronouncement  of  divorce  a  vinculo  matrimonii  is  only  the  natural 
consequence  and  recognition  of  an  already  accomplished  fact,  is  (i)  to 
forget  that  God  is  a  party  to  the  marriage  contract,  and  that  He  ratines 
and  seals  the  bond.  (2)  It  makes  one  sin  against  the  lower  and  physical 
side  of  marriage,  destructive  of  a  bond  embracing  the  whole  life  and  all 
its  relations,  and  of  a  spiritual  fellowship  entered  into  for  the  common 
bringing  up  of  Christian  children.  (3)  Thus  it  degrades  the  idea  of  mar- 
riage to  that  of  a  mere  unitas  carnis,  apart  from  any  spiritual  bond  what- 
ever. (4)  Lastly,  if  adultery  does  really  dissolve  the  bond  of  marriage 
before  God,  how  can  he  who  marries  a  person  divorced  on  the  score  of 
adultery,  commit  adultery,  as  our  Lord  says  he  does  commit  it,  by  doing 
so  ?  (St.  Matt.  xix.  9. )  He  is  only  marrying  an  unmarried  person,  if  the 
adultery  has  really  dissolved  the  bond.  Cf.  Dollinger's  "  First  Age  of 
the  Church,"  transl.  by  Mr.  Oxenham,  Append.  3,  p.  424,  2nd  ed. 

With  this  compare  Bishop  Andrewes'  "Discourse  against  Second  Mar- 
riage, after  Sentence  of  Divorce  with  a  former  match,  the  party  then 
living,  in  anno  1601."  It  is  given  in  the  concluding  volume  of  his  works, 
Oxford,  1854,  pp.  106-110.  Bishop  Andrewes  argues  against  the  theory 
that  the  act  of  adultery  dissolves  the  bond  of  marriage,  on  the  broad 
grounds  that,  if  this  were  so,  (1)  "the  party  offending  could  not  be 
received  again  by  the  innocent  to  former  society  of  life,  without  a  new 
solemnizing  of  marriage,  inasmuch  as  the  former  marriage  is  quite  dis- 
solved." This,  as  he  observes,  is  contrary  to  the  practice  of  all  Christian 
Churches.  He  observes  (2)  that,  according  to  this  theory,  if  the  innocent 
husband  were  to  return  to  the  duties  of  wedded  life  with  a  wife  who  had 
fallen  into  sin  without  remarriage,  the  husband  himself  "should  in  so 
doing  commit  adultery,  inasmuch  as  he  hath  had  the  use  of  her  that  is 
now  none  of  his.  None  of  his,  I  say,  because  their  marriage  was  utterly 
dissolved  by  the  act  precedent  of  his  wife."  He  further  argues  (3)  that  to 
understand  St.  Matt.  xix.  9  as  implicitly  sanctioning  the  theory  that 
adultery  does  ipso  facto  so  dissolve  marriage  as  to  allow  of  the  remarriage 


312 


Christ  and  Human  Law. 


[Serm. 


deceived  as  to  its  real  terms.1  Yet,  even  here,  to  marry 
the  woman  is  adulterous;  for  she  knew  the  terms  on 

of  either  of  the  parties  during  the  lifetime  of  the  other,  is  to  put  a 
premium  upon  the  sin  of  the  adulterer  or  adulteress.  "If  the  com- 
mitting of  adultery  do  dissolve  marriage,  then  maketh  it  the  persons  in  the 
same  case  they  were  before  they  were  married  ;  and  so  may  either,  as  well 
the  guilty  as  the  innocent,  marry,  which  is  the  very  benefit  the  adulterer 
propounds  to  himself."  But,  as  he  observes,  "it  is  not  our  Saviour's 
will  to  make  the  committing  of  sin  gainful  or  beneficial  to  any  offender." 
Appeal  is  sometimes  made  to  I  Cor.  vi.  16  as  sanctioning  the  theory  that 
adultery  destroys  the  original  unitas  carnis,  and  forms  a  new  one.  It 
has  been  noticed  above,  that  the  essence  of  marriage  lies  in  the  moral  force 
of  a  contract  taken  before  God,  and  not  in  the  mere  unitas  carnis.  If  the 
latter  were  the  case,  every  act  of  sinful  intercourse  would  constitute  a 
fresh  marriage-bond. 

On  the  general  question  see  further  "An  Argument  for  not  proceeding 
immediately  to  repeal  the  Laws  which  treat  the  Nuptial  Bond  as  Indis- 
soluble," by  the  Rev.  John  Keble,  Oxford,  Parker,  1857.  Also,  "Sequel 
to  the  Argument  against  immediately  repealing  the  Laws,"  etc.,  Oxford, 
Parker,  1857. 

1  Dollinger,  "First  Age,"  p.  366.  The  Law  punished  with  stoning  a 
bride  who  professed  to  be  a  virgin  and  was  not.  Deut.  xxii.  20,  21. 
With  a  people  who  had  so  strong  a  feeling  of  jealousy  as  the  Jews  about 
a  bride's  virginity,  deceit  in  the  matter  seemed  deserving  of  death ;  and 
if  the  public  conviction  and  execution  ordered  by  the  Law  did  not  actually 
take  place — of  which  no  example  is  known — it  was  natural  and  in  order 
for  a  man  who  discovered  such  treachery  to  send  back  the  woman  who 
had  been  disgraced  and  had  dishonoured  him  to  her  parents,  with  a  writ- 
ing of  divorce  after  the  Mosaic  form.  ...  In  such  cases  of  divorce  there 
was  properly  no  dissolving  of  the  matrimonial  bond,  for  every  marriage 
took  place  under  the  condition  recognised  by  the  Law,  that  the  bride 
should  be  a  maid  ;  and  deception  in  a  point  so  essential  to  Oriental 
notions  invalidated  the  whole  act,  for  in  such  a  case  the  man's  consent 
could  not  be  supposed.  It  was  fair  that  the  man  should  thus  divorce  a 
girl  he  would  never  have  married  had  he  known  of  her  sin;  and  he  showed 
forbearance  in  not  getting  her  put  to  death.  And  when  Christ  added,  for 
the  Jews,  who  could  only  thus  understand  Him,  this  one  exception,  when 
divorce  was  allowable,  His  rule,  that  man  may  not  sever  what  God  has 
joined,  remained  wholly  unaffected.    God  only  binds  those  who  consent 

to  be  bound  It  is  clear  how  St.  Mark,  in  a  narrative  designed 

for  Gentile  converts,  could  omit  what  St.  Matthew  had  said  of  the  excep- 
tional case  mentioned  by  Christ,  as  something  only  concerning  the  Jews, 
and  not  affecting  the  general  principle  of  the  indissolubility  of  marriage. 
— See  the  whole  passage  and  note  on  p.  366. 


XVI. 


Christ  and  Human  Law. 


3*3 


which  she  had  bound  herself.  But  when  a  contract  is  per- 
fect, it  is  altogether  beyond  recall,  at  least  before  God; 
a  separation  from  bed  and  board  may  subsequently  become 
necessary ;  but  no  suspension  of  the  duties  or  enjoyments 
of  married  life  can  cancel  the  indissoluble  bond  itself; 
and  therefore,  much  more  than  in  the  Jewish  case  referred 
to,  "  whoso  marrieth  her  that  is  "  in  this  sense  "  divorced, 
committeth  adultery."1 

It  is  unnecessary  to  recite  the  terms  of  the  Divorce  Act, 
which  has  become  law  within  this  generation.  Suffice  it 
to  say,  that  that  Act  empowers  a  high  officer  of  the  law, 
sitting  in  his  court,  to  pronounce,  not  only  separations  for 
a  term  of  years,  or,  under  certain  circumstances,  for  life, 
divorce  a  mensd  et  thoro,  but  actual  dissolution  of  the 
marriage  tie,  divorce  a  vinculo  matrimonii.  Accordingly 
it  sanctions  and  makes  legal  marriages  (so  termed)  of  the 
divorced  parties,  during  the  lifetime  of  the  separated  wife 
or  husband.2    Certainly  these  morally  impossible  divorces 

1  St.  Matt.  v.  32,  os  eav  airo\e\viJ.evr}v  yafirjcr],  fj.OLxS.rai  :  xix. 
9,  6  a.Tro\e\vfxevr]v  yafA7)<ra.s,  fxoixa,Tai.  See  Bishop  Andrewes,  ubi 
supra.  The  terms  of  Bom.  vii.  2,  from  which  the  vow  of  marriage  seems 
to  have  been  framed,  show  that  the  marriage  bond  is  only  really  broken 
by  death,  and  that  though  a  woman  "become  another  man's,  yet  is  she 
not  become  his  wife."  Accordingly,  in  1  Cor.  vii.  11,  a  woman  of  herself 
departing  or  put  away  by  her  husband  is  commanded  either  to  be  recon- 
ciled or  to  remain  unmarried.  That  1  Cor.  vii.  1 1  must  be  understood 
to  refer  to  adultery,  and  not  to  other  causes  of  separation,  is  argued  bjr 
Bishop  Andrewes  from  the  fact  that,  "were  it  any  other  cause  but  that 
wherein  Christ  hath  given  leave  to  depart  or  to  put  away,  the  Apostle 
would  not  have  put  it  upon  either,  or  upon  one,  but  would  simply  and 
absolutely  have  commanded  her  to  be  reconciled,  as  indeed  in  all  other 
cases  she  is  bound  to  seek  it,  and  is  not  less  at  liberty." 

2  As  showing  the  sense  of  the  Primitive  Church,  Bishop  Andrewes,  ubi 
supra,  quotes,  among  other  authorities,  Cone.  Elib.  Can.  ix. ;  Cone.  Milev. 
Can.  xvii.  :  "Placuit  ut  secundum  Evangelicam  et  Apostolicam  discipli- 
nam  neque  dimissus  ab  uxore,  neque  diniissa  a  marito  alteri  conjugantur." 
This  was  subscribed  by  St.  Augustine  and  St.  Optatus.  St.  Augustine 
says  expressly  that  "nullius  viri  posterioris  mulier  uxor  esse  incipit,  nisi 
prioris  esse  desiverit.   Esse  autem  desinet  uxor  prioris,  si  moriatur  vir  ejus 


314  Christ  and  Human  Law.  [Serm. 


from  the  marriage  tie  had  been  before  enacted  by  special 
Parliamentary  statutes ;  and  Parliament  had  learnt  its 
lesson  from  the  practical  claim  of  the  Popes,  to  extend  the 
dispensing  power  not  merely  to  all  ecclesiastical  regula- 
tions, but  to  precepts  of  revealed  morality.  These  un- 
happy precedents,  on  a  more  restricted  scale,  could  not 
justify  our  present  extension  of  the  mischief  to  a  much 
larger  range  of  cases ; — the  contradiction  between  the  pre- 
tension to  divorce  absolutely,  and  our  Lord's  plain  teach- 
ing on  the  subject,  is,  to  any  ordinary  reader  of  the  New 
Testament,  sufficiently  obvious. 

The  evil  would  be  grave  enough,  if  no  bad  results  of  the 
measure  were  traceable.  But  on  this  head  I  may  refer  to 
one  who  was,  in  former  years,  a  distinguished  ornament  of 
the  judicial  bench,  and  whose  name  is  held  in  honour  in 
this  his  University,  and,  indeed,  wherever  the  English 
language  is  spoken. 

"  The  new  law,"  observes  Sir  John  T.  Coleridge,  "  has.  to 
the  present  time,  had  the  advantage  of  being  administered 
by  two  judges  in  succession  of  rare  excellency;  men  who 
may  be  equalled,  but  will  scarcely  ever  be  surpassed  in 
their  own  province ;  and  yet,  when  I  consider  the  effect  on 
the  purity  of  the  public  mind  of  the  proceedings  of  the 
court,  daily  circulated  among  all  ages  and  classes;  the 
collusion  between  parties,  sometimes  defeated,  but  too 
often,  no  doubt,  successfully  practised ;  and,  above  all,  the 
fatally  strong  temptation  which  its  open  doors  must  offer 
to  conjugal  infidelity,  .....  I  do  not  believe  that  the 
eminent  judges  to  whom  I  have  referred,  could  we  have 
the  benefit  now  of  their  advice,  would  be  disposed  to 

non  si  fornicetur"  {De  Conj.  Adult,  ii.  4).  St.  Jerome  puts  the  case  as 
strongly  as  possible:  "Quamdiu  vivit  vir,  licet  adulter  sit,  licet  sodomita, 
licet  flagitiis  omnibus  coopertus,  et  ab  uxore  propter  haec  scelera  derelictus, 
maritus  ejus  reputatur,  cui  alterum  virum  accipere  non  licet"  {Ep.  52,  ad 
Amandum,  §  3). 


XVI.]         Christ  and  Human  Law. 


315 


commend  the  ]a\v  which  they  have  been  called  on  to 
administer."1 

It  may  be  said,  that  whether  it  be  right  or  wrong,  this 
legislation  is  irreversible ;  that  when  the  current  flows  so 
stroDg  in  the  direction  of  laxity,  we  must  perforce  yield  to 
it ;  and  that  it  were  better  to  draw  a  veil  over  social  ulcers, 
which  cannot  be  healed,  than  thus  to  expose  them. 

But,  speaking  to  young  men,  many  of  whom  in  coming 
years  will  have  opportunities  of  serving  their  country  by 
helping  to  guide  its  convictions,  perhaps,  by  moulding  its 
legislation.  I  cannot  resign  myself  to  this  despairing  view 
of  our  actual  circumstances.  If  Christians  must  be  jealous 
for  the  honour  of  their  Lord,  Englishmen  must  desire  that 
in  days  of  actual  and  anticipated  change  there  should  be 
the  utmost  possible  harmony  between  the  various  moral 
forces  which  sway  the  action  of  their  country ;  that,  on  a 
subject  in  which  law  is  still  regarded  by  large  numbers  of 
English  people  as  the  mouthpiece  of  religion,  religious 
principles  should  not  be  actively  contradicted  by  statute 
law ;  that,  so  far  as  may  be,  the  verdicts  of  our  Civil 
Courts  of  Justice  should  be  accepted  without  question  by 
the  most  educated  and  sensitive  conscience  of  the  nation, 
as  being,  within  the  moral  sphere  to  which  law  necessarily 
restricts  itself,  in  substantial  harmony  with  the  Eevealed 
Mind  of  the  Eternal  Judge.  To  forfeit  this  harmony  is 
national  weakness ;  to  rivet  it  is  national  strength. 

Another  example  of  the  discord  between  law  and  reli- 
gious conscience  which  I  am  deprecating  may  be  observed 
in  a  legislative  anomaly,  to  which,  of  late  years,  attention 
has  been  frequently,  but  not  too  frequently,  directed. 

At  the  English  Reformation,  as  is  well  known,  the 
supremacy  of  the  Crown  in  all  causes  ecclesiastical  and 
civil,  was,  by  the  terms  of  the  preamble  of  the  Statute  of 

1  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  J.  Keble,  M.A.,  by  the  Right  Hon.  Sir  J.  T. 
Coleridge,  D.C.L.,  pp.  417,  418. 


316 


Christ  and  Human  Law.  [Serm. 


Appeals  (1533),  harmonized  with  the  principle,  so  un- 
questionably venerable,  and  so  necessary  to  the  wellbeing 
of  the  Christian  Church,  of  deciding  spiritual  causes  by 
the  spirituality.1  Nor  did  the  creation  of  the  Court  of 
Delegates,  by  a  statute  passed  in  the  following  year  (1534), 
necessarily  conflict  with  the  principle  of  the  Statute  of 
Appeals;  because  the  power  to  appoint  the  members  of 
the  court  resided  with  the  Crown,  and  the  Crown  was  at 
least  free  to  exercise  its  supremacy  by  appointing  a 
majority  of  episcopal  delegates,  so  as  not  to  neutralize  the 
principle  of  the  earlier  statute.2  Such,  for  two  hundred 
and  ninety-eight  years,3  was  the  law  of  the  Church  and 
State  of  England;  but  since  1832  it  has  been  otherwise.4 

1  24  Hen.  VIII.  cap.  12.  ""When  any  cause  of  the  Law  Divine  hap- 
pened to  come  in  question,  or  of  spiritual  learning,  then  it  was  declared, 
interpreted,  and  showed,  by  that  part  of  the  said  body  politick,  called  the 
spirituality,  now  being  usually  called  the  English  Church,  which  always 
hath  been  reputed,  and  also  found  of  that  sort,  that  both  for  knowledge, 
integrity,  and  sufficiency  of  number,  it  hath  been  always  thought,  and  is 
also  at  this  hour,  sufficient  and  meet  of  itself,  without  the  intermeddling 
of  any  exterior  person  or  persons,  to  declare  and  determine  all  such  doubts, 
and  to  administer  all  such  offices  and  duties  as  to  their  rooms  spiritual 
doth  appertain." 

2  25  Hen.  VIII.  cap.  19,  sec.  4.  "And  for  lack  of  justice  at  or  in  any 
of  the  Courts  of  the  Archbishops  of  this  realm,  or  in  any  of  the  King's 
dominions,  it  shall  be  lawful  to  the  parties  grieved  to  appeal  to  the  King's 
Majesty  in  the  King's  Court  of  Chancery  ;  and  that,  upon  every  such 
appeal,  a  Commission  shall  be  directed,  under  the  Great  Seal,  to  such 
persons  as  shall  be  named  by  the  King's  Highness,  his  heirs,  or  successors, 
like  as  in  case  of  appeals  from  the  Admiral's  Court,  to  hear  and  definitively 
determine  such  appeals,  and  the  causes  concerning  the  same." 

3  It  should  be  added  that  the  above-named  Acts  were  repealed  by  1  &  2 
Ph.  and  Mary,  c.  8,  in  1554,  and  revived  by  1  Eliz.  c.  1. 

4  By  2  &  3  Will.  IV.  cap.  92,  the  whole  jurisdiction  exercised  by  the 
Court  of  Delegates  over  the  Archiepiscopal  Courts  was  transferred  to  the 
whole  Privy  Council.  By  3  &  4  Will.  IV.  cap.  41,  the  jurisdiction  thus 
given  to  the  whole  Privy  Council  was  transferred  to  a  fixed  Committee  of 
that  body.  On  the  history  of  this  legislation  see  "  The  Civil  Power  in  its 
Relations  to  the  Church,"  by  James  Wayland  Joyce,  M.A.,  one  of  the 
Clergy-Proctors  for  the  Diocese  of  Hereford ;  London,  Rivingtons,  1869, 


XVI. 


Christ  a7id  Hitman  Law. 


317 


In  the  words  of  the  eminent  authority  to  whom  I  have 
already  referred,  "  a  modern  statute  has  placed  in  the 
hands  of  the  Judicial  Committee  of  the  Privy  Council, 
assisted  by  two  or  three  of  the  bishops,  not  selected  for 
personal  fitness  as  judges,  but  in  virtue  of  their  sees,  the 
final  decision  of  questions  touching  the  doctrine  and  disci- 
pline of  the  Church.  Even  if  the  Committee  were  neces- 
sarily composed  of  Churchmen,  there  would  be  the  question 
whether  such  matters  are  properly  to  be  adjudicated  on 
by  laymen ;  but  it  is  well  known  that  among  its  members 
may  be  those  who  are,  conscientiously  or  otherwise,  not 
only  alien  from  the  Church,  but  opposed  to  it."  1 

The  waiter  proceeds  to  point  out  that  the  Judicial  Com- 
mittee has  by  law  much  more  jurisdiction  than  is  necessary 
to  decide  on  doctrinal  points  collaterally  arising  in  a  par- 
ticular cause,  and  only  for  the  purposes  of  that  cause,  with 
a  view  to  its  determination.  On  the  contrary,  "  the  Judi- 
cial Committee  often  takes  cognizance  of  doctrine  directly, 
and  as  the  point  in  issue ;  it  does  so  in  the  last  resort ;  its 
decision  binds  every  court  and  even  itself;  so  that  if  it 
should  happen  to  determine  certain  propositions  not  to  be 
contrary  to  the  Articles,  or  vice  versa,  however  manifestly 
wrong  or  dangerous  the  decision,  those  propositions  might 
be  maintained  and  preached  by  any  incumbent  to  his  flock 
with  impunity ;  and  to  preach  propositions  logically  con- 
tradictory of  them  might  subject  an  incumbent  to  prosecu- 
tion and  its  consequences.  It  cannot  be  doubted,"  concludes 
this  high  authority,  "  that  this  would  practically  be  very 

pp.  76  sqq.  There  seems  to  be  sufficient  evidence  that  the  Ecclesiastical 
Jurisdiction  was  transferred  to  the  Judicial  Committee  by  a  pure  accident, 
due,  according  to  Mr.  Joyce,  to  "that  excessive  love  of  verbiage  and  un- 
necessary amplification,  which  appears  often  to  beset  those  to  whom  the 
duty  of  drafting  Acts  of  Parliament  is  committed"  (p.  79). 

1  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  J.  Kcble,  by  the  Right  Hon.  Sir  J.  T.  Coleridge, 
p.  467. 


3i8 


Christ  and  Human  Law.  [Serm. 


much  the  same  as  making  a  new  doctrine  for  the 
Church."1 

To  this  it  may  be  added,  that  the  chief  author  of  the 
Act  alluded  to  it  in  language  which  appears  to  imply,  that 
to  refer  doctrinal  cases  to  a  court  so  constituted  was 
nothing  less  than  a  legislative  blunder.  Speaking  in  his 
place  in  Parliament,  the  late  Lord  Brougham  observed, 
that  "he  could  not  help  feeling  that  the  Judicial  Com- 
mittee of  Privy  Council  had  been  framed  without  the  ex- 
pectation of  [ecclesiastical]  questions  ....  being  brought 
before  it.  It  was  created  for  the  consideration  of  a  totally 
different  class  of  cases,  and  he  had  no  doubt  that  if  it  had 
been  constituted  with  a  view  to  such  cases  as  the  present 
[the  Gorham  case],  some  other  arrangement  would  have 
been  made." 2 

And  yet,  while  within  the  past  week  a  measure  has  been 
brought  before  the  Legislature  for  the  reform  of  the  eccle- 
siastical  courts,3  it  expressly  leaves  this  capital  anomaly 
altogether  untouched.  Is  it  too  much  to  hope  that  some 
effort  will  be  made  to  remedy  so  serious  and  threatening 
an  evil  ?  Is  it  really  impossible  to  harmonize  the  historical 
prerogatives  of  the  Crown,  and  the  just  susceptibilities  of 
the  guardians  of  the  law,  with  the  immemorial  rules,  with 
the  governing  principles  of  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ  ? 

It  would  be  easy  to  dwell  for  no  inconsiderable  time 
upon  the  grave  consequences  of  the  present  state  of  things 
to  the  best  interests  of  religion ;  and  those  who  know  any- 
thing practically  of  the  difficulties  with  which  the  English 
Church  has  to  contend  in  a  great  many  quarters  at  the 
present  moment,  know  with  what  urgency  and  effect  this 

1  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  J.  Keble,  p.  468. 

2  Hansard,  3rd  S.,  vol.  cxi.  p.  629  ;  quoted  by  Joyce,  ubi  suvra,  p.  78. 
To  the  same  effect,  the  late  Bishop  Blomfield  :  "The  contingency  of  such 
an  appeal  came  into  no  one's  mind."    See  Joyce,  ibid.  p.  79. 

3  By  the  Earl  of  Shaftesbury. 


XVI.] 


Christ  and  Htmian  Law. 


3*9 


feature  of  our  actual  system,  is  pressed  against  her.  But 
the  question  is  one  of  national  as  well  as  of  religious  im- 
portance. The  strength  of  Christian  States  is  to  be  fortified 
and  secured  by  relations  more  or  less  intimate  with  strong, 
well-ordered,  and  loyal  Churches,  whether  they  are  "  estab- 
lished" or  not;  because  such  Churches,  while  training 
souls  for  a  higher  and  better  world,  can,  more  surely  than 
any  other  agency,  reinforce  the  pulses  of  the  heart  of  the 
nation  with  constant  and  abundant  and  harmonious  infu- 
sions of  moral  purpose.  And  when  are  Churches  strong  to 
do  this?  "Not  necessarily  when  they  can  command  the 
various  influences  of  station,  of  wealth,  of  intellectual 
culture,  of  seats  in  the  Legislature ;  not  necessarily  when 
they  are  invested  by  the  national  will  with  temporal 
privileges,  of  which  no  serious  man  will  think  or  speak 
lightly.  Churches  are  strong  when  their  spiritual  self- 
respect  is  unimpaired ;  when  their  deepest  life  is  free  to 
live  in  accordance  with  the  provisions  of  that  Divine  Code 
which  is  its  first  and  most  imperative  law.  And  it  is 
neither  charitable  nor  wise  to  neglect  wounds  in  well- 
instructed  and  sensitive  consciences;  wounds  which,  if 
untended,  will  rankle  and  fester  into  deadly  sores.  The 
Church  of  God  is  freer  to  acknowledge,  to  uphold,  to  insist 
upon  the  Divine  sanctions  of  the  civil  law,  without  suspicion 
of  her  motives  in  doing  so,  if  Caesar  does  not  touch  the 
things  of  God ;  she  is  better  able  to  proclaim  the  mission 
which  civil  government  has  received  from  heaven,  if 
Christian  doctrine  is  not  brought,  I  will  not  say,  before 
Pilate,  but  before  judges,  upon  whom  high  character  and 
position  will  not  of  themselves  confer  the  Apostolical  power 
of  "  sitting  on  thrones  to  judge  the  Twelve  Tribes  of  Israel." 


320 


Christ  and  Human  Law.  [Serm. 


III. 

But  the  subject  involves,  if  somewhat  indirectly,  a  con- 
sideration which  may  have  a  more  immediate  and  general 
interest  even  than  the  foregoing.  What  is  the  respon- 
sibility of  society  at  large  for  the  particular  crimes  which 
are  published  in  our  courts  of  justice  ?  It  was  Jewish 
society  which  delivered  the  sinless  Christ  into  the  hands 
of  Pilate.  It  is  Christian  society  which  delivers  modern 
criminals  into  the  hands  of  the  officers  of  the  law. 

Doubtless  it  is  right — it  is  necessary — to  punish  them. 
And  yet  how  many  a  criminal  may  use  the  words  of 
Christ,  in  a  different  yet  in  a  most  true  and  literal  sense, 
when  he  is  placed  at  the  bar  for  judgment,  after  being 
found  guilty  of  robbery  or  murder:  "He  that  delivereth 
Me  unto  thee  hath  the  greater  sin."  "  He  that  delivereth 
me  ! "  Not  the  policeman  who  arrested  me ;  not  the  magis- 
trate who  committed  me  for  trial ;  not  the  witness  whose 
evidence  satisfied  the  jury  of  my  guilt ;  but  society.  That 
vast  abstraction,  that  most  real  albeit  complex  agent, 
society,  is  the  greater  criminal.  I  am  but  the  victim  of  its 
heartlessness,  the  fruit  of  its  neglect,  the  product  and 
result  of  its  example :  "  He  that  delivereth  Me  unto  thee 
hath  the  greater  sin." 

Is  this  a  libel,  or  is  it  the  voice  of  truth  and  justice — 
of  partial  truth,  at  any  rate — of  some  measure  of  justice  ? 
Let  us  consider. 

Many  of  us  are  familiar  with  a  modern  writer  who 
would  answer  this  question  by  announcing  a  doctrine 
which  practically  annihilates  freewill.  He  maintains  that 
full  knowledge  of  the  antecedents  of  a  moral  agent,  and 
of  the  circumstances  which  surround  him,  enable  you  to 
predict  unerringly  how  he  will  act  under  particular  con- 
ditions; since  his  action  follows  inevitably  from  a  fore- 


XVI.] 


Christ  and  Human  Law. 


321 


going  combination  of  facts,  of  which  it  is  the  natural 
product  and  issue.1  Obviously,  according  to  this  theory, 
society  furnishes  a  very  large  contribution  indeed  towards 
individual  crime.  And  yet,  if  freewill  do  not  exist,  it  is 
plainly  a  mistake  to  describe  any  act,  however  horrible  its 
results,  as  criminal.  Upon  that  supposition  a  murder  and 
an  earthquake  must  have  exactly  the  same  moral  signifi- 
cance ;  and  no  more  blame  on  the  score  of  a  social  tragedy 
ought,  in  fairness,  to  be  attributed  to  the  remote  influence 
of  society  than  to  the  individual  ruffian  whose  hand  is  red 
with  his  neighbour's  blood. 

But  the  immorality  of  this  doctrine  should  not  blind 
us  to  the  element  of  truth  which  it  contains,  and  which 
is  recognised  nowhere  more  fully  than  in  the  Christian 
Scriptures.  This  truth  is,  that  although  no  one  man 
is  simply  what  circumstances  have  made  him ;  although 
he  is  what  he  is  primarily  in  virtue  of  the  secret,  self- 
controlling  -centre  of  consciousness  and  volition,  which  is 
himself,  and  which,  by  its  successive  thoughts,  emotions, 
and  resolves,  has  made  him  what  he  is ;  yet  society  has 
supplied  the  mental  atmosphere  which  has  encouraged 
and  cherished,  or  stunted  and  blighted  his  moral  growth,  as 
the  case  may  be.  Society  has  surrounded  him  with  know- 
ledge or  with  ignorance,  with  high  moral  ideals  or  with 
base  moral  ideals,  with  encouragements  to  virtue  or  with 
encouragements  to  vice,  with  traditions  in  favour  of  effort 
and  self-sacrifice  or  with  traditions  in  favour  of  sloth  and 
degradation.  True,  these  traditions  do  not  act  upon  him 
so  irresistibly  as  to  kill  his  liberty  of  breaking  through 
them.  But  they  do  make  virtue  easy  or  difficult;  and 
nothing  is  more  certain  than  that  the  responsibility  of  a 
moral  being,  in  the  eyes  of  the  Eternal  Justice,  must  vary 

1  Buckle,  History  of  Civilization  in  England,  vol.  i.  p.  25.  "The 
individual  felon  only  carries  into  effect  what  is  a  necessary  consequence  oi 
preceding  circumstances."    Cf.  p.  29. 

X 


322 


Christ  and  Human  Law.  [Serm. 


in  exact  proportion  to  his  opportunities.  An  act  of 
hideous  idol-worship  at  Tyre  or  Sidon,  or  an  act  of  debas- 
ing vice  at  Sodom  or  Gomorrha,  implied  less  moral  evil  in 
the  agent  than  did  indifference  to  truth  or  neglect  of 
opportunities  in  Chorazin,  or  Bethsaida,  or  Capernaum.1 
The  Jews  were  more  guilty  before  God  than  the  Gentiles, 
because  "  by  the  law  is  the  knowledge  of  sin." 2 

Is  this  not  in  harmony  with  our  own  experience  ? 
When  we  are  with  particular  persons,  or  surrounded  with 
particular  associations,  it  seems  natural  to  do  right,  it 
seems  almost  impossible  to  do  wrong.  When  we  are  else- 
where or  with  others,  we  are,  it  may  be,  other  men :  we 
think  and  act  without  difficulty  in  ways  which,  but  just 
now,  would  have  seemed  impossible.  This  variation 
would  not  hold  good  in  the  case  of  the  extremes  in  the 
moral  world ;  it  would  be  true  neither  of  the  very  bad  nor 
of  the  consistently  holy.  In  both  of  these  cases,  moral 
habit  is  sufficiently  fixed  and  strong  to  defy  the  pressure 
and  solicitation  of  circumstance.  But  of  the  great  mass 
of  men  it  is  true  that  their  moral  life  depends  largely 
upon  the  circumstances  which  surround  them ;  and  it  is 
the  great  mass  of  men,  after  all,  that  is  in  question. 

Undoubtedly  the  wide  difference  of  opportunities  be- 
tween man  and  man,  class  and  class,  country  and  country, 
age  and  age,  is  determined  by,  is  a  part  of  the  good 
Providence  of  God ;  it  is  the  visible  expression  of  His 
predestinating  will  respecting  each  of  His  moral  creatures; 
and  it  thus  brings  before  us  one  of  the  most  mysterious 
features  of  His  government  of  the  world.  But  within  this 
larger  aspect  of  the  case  we  may  safely  observe  a  narrower 
one,  and  confine  our  attention  to  it,  since  it  is  practically 
of  the  highest  importance. 

If,  for  instance,  we  could  trace  out  the  whole  personal 
history  of  any  one  of  the  prisoners  who  will  be  convicted 

i  St.  Matt.  xi.  21-23.    St.  Luke  x.  13-15.  2  Rom.  iii.  20. 


XVI. 


Christ  and  Human  Law. 


323 


of  theft  or  of  graver  crimes  at  the  forthcoming  assizes,  we 
should  find  that  he  has  enjoyed  that  particular  measure  of 
opportunities  which  society,  that  is,  the  aggregate  of  men 
and  women  living  at  this  present  time  in  this  particular 
part  of  England,  has  put  before  him.  Whether  or  not 
he  has  made  good  use  of  his  opportunities  is  a  matter  for 
his  own  conscience  before  God.  But  whether  he  has  had 
any  good  opportunities  to  make  use  of  is  a  question  for 
us,  as  members  of  society,  still  more  as  members  of  the 
Church  of  Christ. 

For  is  not  this  a  matter  as  to  which  the  great  number 
of  educated  and  well-meaning  people  in  this  country 
habitually  deceive  themselves  ?  We  all  of  us  talk  of  the 
duties  and  the  responsibilities  of  society.  But  all  the 
while  we  mean  by  society  an  abstract  entity,  with  the 
action  and  resolutions  of  which  we  have  individually  as 
little  to  do  as  with  those  of  the  English,  or  it  may  be  of 
the  French  Government.  Whereas  the  truth  is,  that 
society,  or  the  only  part  of  it  with  which  we  have  any 
concern,  is  but  an  abstract  way  of  describing  a  particular 
relation  of  other  people  to  ourselves,  and  of  ourselves  to 
other  people.  And  if  crime  and  poverty  are  upon  the 
increase  in  England,  and  this  side  by  side  with  an  increas- 
ing concentration  of  luxury  and  wealth  in  the  hands  of  an 
upper  class,  it  needs  no  great  political  discernment  to  see 
in  this  condition  of  things  the  elements  of  grave  social 
danger,  which  may  well  demand  the  earnest  attention  of 
the  Legislature,  but  which,  in  the  first  instance,  make  a 
serious  call  upon  ourselves  as  individuals. 

Now  every  one  of  us  may  individually  act  on  existing 
crime  in  three  main  ways. 

First  of  all,  we  may  do  something  to  prevent  it.  This 
chiefly  by  furthering  the  Education  of  the  Poor.  We  may 
discharge  this  duty,  either  through  others  or  by  personal 
labour ;  either  in  particular  places  or  by  supporting  societies 


324 


Christ  and  Human  Law.  [Serm. 


with  larger  fields  of  operations,  whether  diocesan  or  national.1 
By  education  I  mean  Christian  education.  An  education 
in  useful  knowledge,  as  it  is  termed,  which  leaves  God, 
conscience,  the  eternal  future,  the  Atoning  Blood,  the 
means  of  grace,  out  of  the  question,  will  not  really  do  much 
to  stay  the  progress  of  crime.  It  will  make  crime  less 
"brutal  and  stupid ;  but  it  will  probably  deepen  its  moral 
complexion.  Secular  education  only  arms  the  brute  that 
is  in  us  all  with  new  weapons  of  offence,  without  doing 
aught  to  tame  his  ferocious  instincts.  But  to  support 
Christian  education  is  to  arrest  crime  at  the  fountain-head ; 
it  is  to  cut  off  the  main  supplies  from  the  great  torrent  of 
national  immorality  ;  it  is  to  bring  heads  and  hearts,  while 
nature  is  yet  impressible,  under  those  blessed  influences 
which  make  crime  unwelcome,  and  which  enlist  its  natural 
votaries  and  victims  in  the  cause  of  virtue. 

Secondly,  we  may  do  something  towards  repairing  the 
ravages  of  crime.  There  is  a  great  deal  of  crime  which 
never  falls  under  the  hand  of  the  law,  or  which,  after  convic- 
tion, is  unable  to  recover  itself.  To  help  those  who  have 
gone  wrong,  probably  through  little  fault  of  their  own,  to  re- 
turn to  the  paths  of  virtue,  is  a  privilege  which  is  offered  to 
most  men  sooner  or  later  in  private  life.  Such  opportunities 
occur  almost  always  under  circumstances  which  do  not 
admit  of  publicity.  In  view  of  this  portion  of  our  respon- 
sibility towards  crime,  the  support  of  reformatories  and 
of  penitentiaries  is  of  imperative  obligation.2  To  give  a 
kindly  hand  to  the  many  who  long  to  rise,  but  who  cannot 
rise  without  it;  to  inspire  hope,  the  very  soul  of  moral 
recovery,  into  those  who  are  still  fettered  and  in  darkness, 
but  who  hear  of  a  comrade's  return  to  moral  light  and 
liberty ;  this  is  to  do  Christ's  work  in  the  world,  if  anything 
is  to  do  it.  And  to  do  it  thus  in  some  measure  is  within 
the  power  of  every  one  of  us. 

1  Prov.  xxii.  6.  2  Gal.  vi.  I. 


XVI. 


Christ  and  Human  Law. 


325 


But,  thirdly,  it  is  by  honest,  unshrinking  efforts  at 
inward  self-improvement  that  we  can  best  act  upon  the 
great  abyss  of  contemporary  crime.1  Such  is  the  solidarity 
of  this  human  social  world,  that  the  actions,  the  words, 
nay,  the  inward  moral  and  mental  habits  of  each  one  of  us, 
may  powerfully  affect  for  good  or  for  evil  human  beings 
whose  faces  we  never  saw,  but  who  feel,  through  contact 
with  others,  the  pulsations  which  radiate  from  our  inward 
life.  Our  most  powerful  influence  upon  others,  be  it  bad 
or  good,  is  that  natural  outcome  of  our  hearts  and  thoughts, 
which  proceeds  from  us  almost  without  our  knowing  it ; 
and  which  penetrates  into  regions  of  which  we  have  no 
suspicion.  Especially  is  this  true  of  those  who  belong, 
for  the  most  part,  to  the  higher  classes ;  they  have  oppor- 
tunities of  making  contributions  to  the  world's  general 
stock  of  bad  example  and  false  opinions  which  are  not 
enjoyed  by  their  poorer  brethren. 

Beneath  our  feet  a  perpetual  deposit  of  moral  mischief 
is  accumulating ;  it  is  filtered  through  the  thousand  avenues 
of  social  contact ;  it  forms  a  subsoil  which  generates  crime 
as  its  native  product.  We  may  have  made  more  positive 
contributions  to  that  fund  of  evil  than  we  think ;  and  on 
this,  as  on  many  other  matters,  the  discoveries  of  the  last 
Great  Day  should  be  anticipated,  if  they  are  not  to  take 
us  by  a  terrible  surprise. 

At  any  rate  an  assize  is  a  plain  call  to  earnest  efforts ; 
to  generous  efforts  for  others,  to  sincere  efforts  within 
ourselves.  If  we  are  tempted,  on  reading  of  such  and 
such  a  criminal,  to  any  Pharisaic  self-complacency,  we  do 
well  to  consider  what  we  individually,  being  such  as  we 
are,  should  have  done  if  we  had  been  placed  in  his 
exact  social  circumstances;  if  we  had  been,  perhaps, 
undisciplined,  unrefined,  uninstructed,  pressed  by  poverty, 
uncheered,  unaided  by  friends,  unsupported  by  the  many 

1  St.  Matt.  vii.  5.    St.  Luke  vi.  42.    Eom.  ii.  21-24. 


326 


Christ  and  Human  Law, 


[Serm. 


motives  which  have  power  with  us,  short  of  that  one  true 
motive  for  a  Christian — the  ]ove  of  the  Perfect  Moral 
Being,  our  Lord  and  God.  St.  Augustine  used  to  say  that, 
but  for  God's  grace,  he  should  have  been  capable  of  com- 
mitting any  crime  ;  and  it  is  when  we  feel  this  sincerely, 
that  we  are  most  likely  to  be  really  improving,  and  best 
able  to  give  assistance  to  others  without  moral  loss  to  our- 
selves. 

If  it  is  a  duty  to  punish  crime,  it  is  a  prior  duty,  if  we 
can,  to  save  criminals.  If  it  is  permitted  us  to  be  of  moral 
service,  however  indirectly,  to  others,  it  is  safe  first  of  all 
to  place  ourselves  as  penitents  at  the  foot  of  the  Cross 
of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  with  a  prayer  which  can  never 
be  inappropriate  to  the  real  circumstances  of  any  human 
soul :  "  Enter  not  into  judgment  with  Thy  servant,  0  Lord ; 
for  in  Thy  sight  shall  no  man  living  be  justified."  1 

1  Ps.  cxliii.  2. 


XVI.]         Christ  and  Human  Law. 


327 


NOTE  TO  THE  SECOND  EDITION  OF  THE 
FOREGOING  SERMON  (1869). 

Professor  Conington  has  done  me  the  honour  of  noticing  so 
much  of  this  Sermon  as  bears  upon  Dr.  Dbliinger's  interpretation 
of  our  Lord's  saying  about  Divorce.1  Professor  Conington's  criticism 
covers  more  ground  than  the  argument  or  the  notes  of  this  Sermon ; 
it  is,  in  fact,  almost  a  continuous  commentary  upon  the  Third 
Appendix  to  Dr.  Dbliinger's  "  First  Age  of  the  Church."  Some 
acknowledgment  is  due  to  a  writer  of  such  Christian  earnestness 
and  academical  eminence,  although  in  the  following  remarks  several 
of  the  points  which  he  has  raised  are  unavoidably  unnoticed. 

Professor  Conington  admits  that  philologically  Dr.  Dollinger  "  has 
the  advantage  of  giving  a  sense  to  iropvda,  which  no  one  can 
dispute." 

On  the  other  hand,  to  say  the  very  least,  the  greatest  uncertainty 
must  be  allowed  to  attach  to  any  interpretation  of  our  Lord's  words 
which  takes  iropvda  to  mean  adultery  with  a  single  paramour. 
Dollinger  proves  with  unanswerable  force  the  carefully  observed 
distinction  between  -n-opveia  and  jU°'Xet'a  iu  the  New  Testament  and 
LXX.  ;  St.  Matt.  xvi.  19  ;  St.  Mark  vii.  21  ;  St.  John  viii.  3  ;  a 
distinction  based  upon  an  earlier  and  kindred  one  between  the 
corresponding  Hebrew  words.  As  against  the  view  that  vopvela  is  a 
generic  term  including  adultery,  he  observes  that  when  more  than 
the  natural  sense  of  the  word  is  meant,  either  p.0Lxda  or  dKadapala 
are  used  with  it :  St.  Mark  vii.  21  ;  2  Cor.  xii.  21  ;  Gal.  v.  19  ;  Eph. 
v.  3 ;  Col.  iii.  5  ;  Heb.  xiii.  4.  Professor  Conington  insists  upon  the 
iv  iropvelq.  ipoixevdr)  of  Ecclus.  xxiii.  23,  and  rejects  Dr.  Dbliinger's 
explanation  that  the  two  words  are  put  together  for  emphasis,  on  the 
score  that  this  would  hardly  be  the  case  if  one  of  them  was  inapplic- 
able. As  Ecclesiasticus  is  beyond  doubt  an  Alexandrian  translation 
from  a  Hebrew  or  Aramaean  original,2  is  it  not  probable  that  this 
phrase  represents  an  emphatic  construction  very  common  in  Hebrew, 
in  which  the  inf.  abs.  is  placed  before  a  finite  verb  of  the  same  stem ; 
and  that  it  would  have  been  rendered  literally  but  harshly  iv  M°tXe'P 

1  Contemporary  Review,  May  1869,  Art.  i. 

2  Reusch,  Lehrbuch  d.  Einl.  A.  T.  p.  140;  Davidson,  Old  Test.  iii.  p.  418. 


328 


Christ  and  Human  Law.  [Serm. 


cfioixevdy  1  If  so,  it  may  have  been  deliberately  varied  by  the 
translator,  partly  for  the  sake  of  euphony,  and  partly  with  the  object 
of  hinting  that  an  act,  which  in  any  woman  would  have  been  at 
least  iropveia,  was  in  a  wife  something  of  a  distinct  and  more  serious 
character,  namely,  /iot%eta.  As  to  i  Cor.  v.  i,  it  is  at  least  probable 
that  Dollinger  is  right  in  understanding  iropveia  to  mean  incest  with 
a  father's  widow.  The  rod  abiKwde'vTos  of  2  Cor.  vii.  12,  as  Neander1 
suggests,  may  very  well  stand  for  rod  ddcKrifxaros ;  and  the  Apostle 
would  then  mean  that  he  did  not  write  of  the  sin,  considered  as  an 
act  of  social  injustice,  but  considered  as  an  offence  against  the  purity 
of  the  Christian  life,  for  which  he  desired  to  show  his  zeal.  At  any 
rate  we  cannot  be  sufficiently  certain  that  adiKvdevTos  is  masculine 
and  refers  to  the  father  of  the  incestuous  person,  to  ground  thereupon 
a  single  exception  in  1  Cor.  v.  1 — and  it  would  be  no  more — to  the 
ordinary  New  Testament  use  of  iropveia. 

But  even  if  it  were  clear  that  iropveia  might,  in  one  or  two  places, 
include  adultery,  there  would  surely  be  some  risk  in  insisting  upon 
this  rare  sense  in  the  case  of  a  practical  passage  of  critical  import- 
ance. The  natural  course  is  to  understand  the  word  in  that  which 
is  confessedly  its  usual  sense.  If  our  Lord  had  said,  "Whosoever 
shall  put  away  his  wife,  except  for  the  cause  of  adultery,  causeth  her 
to  commit  adultery,"  no  question  could  have  been  raised  as  to  His 
meaning.  If  He  meant  pioixeia,  why  did  He  say  iropveia  ?  To  reply 
with  Professor  Conington  and  others  that  He  meant  to  include 
"  unchastity  before  marriage  discovered  afterwards  "  is  hardly  satis- 
factory, since  it  assumes  that  unfaithfulness  after  marriage  would 
have  been  primarily  understood  to  be  the  sense  of  the  expression. 
To  refer  to  the  preference  which  a  modern  writer,  treating  the 
subject  in  a  similar  way,  might  feel  for  the  generic  word  "  unchastity  " 
as  compared  with  the  particular  term  "  adultery,"  is,  as  it  seems  to 
me,  too  hastily  to  attribute  a  modern  sentiment  to  a  sacred  speaker 
in  a  distant  age.  In  nothing  does  Holy  Scripture  differ  from  writings 
of  our  own  day  more  strikingly  than  in  the  fearless  unreserve  and 
explicitness  with  which  it  treats  of  subjects  which  cannot  be  dis- 
cussed by  ordinary  persons  without  grave  risk  of  doing  harm  to 
themselves  and  other  people. 

Professor  Conington  would  scarcely  seem  to  have  done  sufficient 
justice  to  the  admitted  and  important  consideration  that  St.  Matthew 
had  Jewish  converts  especially  in  view  in  the  selection  of  materials 
for  his  Gospel.2     "The  solid  fact,"  he  says,    'that  St.  Paul,  St. 

1  Quoted  by  Alford  in  loc. 

a  Cf.  Alford,  vol.  i.,  Prolegomena,  p.  30.    Meyer,  Ev.  Matthaus,  Einl.  p.  20. 


XVI.] 


Christ  and  Human  Law. 


329 


Mark,  and  St.  Luke  do  not  mention  what  St.  Matthew  does,  is,  I 
conceive,  to  be  accounted  for  simply  by  the  consideration  that  they 
were  concerned  rather  with  the  rule,  which,  of  course,  was  the  thing 
on  which  our  Lord  laid,  most  stress,  than  with  the  exception."1  But 
is  not  this  language  about  the  rule  and  the  exception  misleading  ] 
Is  it  not  the  case  that  if  our  Lord's  words  in  St.  Matthew  are  rightly 
interpreted,  as  meaning  that  divorce  a  vinculo  matrimonii  may  follow 
upon  or  is  effected  by  an  act  of  adultery,  we  have  before  us  in  St. 
Matthew  an  altogether  distinct  rule  from  that  which  is  given  by  the 
other  sacred  writers  1  "A  rule  which  does  not  admit  an  exception 
is  a  very  different  thing  from  one  which  does.  A  law  which  binds 
all  persons,  under  all  circumstances,  is  not  the  same  as  one  which 
binds  only  particular  classes,  or  which  exempts  under  certain  circum- 
stances from  its  operation.  The  difference  in  such  cases  is  one  not 
of  form,  but  of  substance  ;  it  makes  the  rule  or  the  law  applicable  or 
inapplicable,  according  to  particular  circumstances,  and  variable  in 
its  effects  ;  and  upon  this  applicability  or  inapplicability  depends  the 
responsibility  or  immunity,  moral  as  well  as  legal,  of  those  who  are 
within  the  sphere  of  its  authority  ;  the  difference  being  of  course 
more  marked,  as  well  as  more  important,  if  the  consequences  of  any 
violation  of  the  rule  or  law  are  made  severely  penal."  2 

In  view  of  this  consideration,  the  silence  of  all  the  other  writers 
of  the  New  Testament  on  so  vital  a  feature  of  the  Christian  Law  of 
Marriage  is  unintelligible,  if  our  Lord  really  meant  that  the  Marriage- 
tie  is  dissoluble  by  adultery.  It  is  not  too  much  to  say,  that  upon 
this  supposition,  they  present  us  in  the  Name  and  words  of  Christ 
with  a  totally  different  Marriage  Law  from  that  given  by  St.  Matthew. 
There  are  of  course  rationalistic  accounts  of  such  like  differences,  but 
they  are  generally  fatal  to  the  authority  of  the  New  Testament  alto- 
gether. If  our  Lord  did  permit  divorce  on  the  ground  of  adultery, 
the  Churches  of  Corinth  and  Ephesus  would  have  needed  and  might 
have  expected  to  hear  of  it  at  least  as  soon  and  as  fully  as  the  Jewish 
Churches  for  whom  the  first  Evangelist  especially  wrote.  Is  it  not 
more  reasonable  as  well  as  more  reverent  to  believe  that  St.  Matthew 
alone  has  preserved  these  words  of  Christ,  because  they  applied  to  the 
case  of  the  Jews  alone,  and  in  the  sense  suggested  by  Dr.  Dollinger  7 

It  is  impossible  not  to  sympathize  with  Professor  Conington's 
unwillingness  to  recognise  any  temporary  exceptions  or  references  in 
a  discourse  meant  for  all  time,  such  as  was  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount. 
But  may  we  then  admit  the  Christian  and  Eucharistic  reference  (as 

1  Cont.  Rev.  p.  3. 

2  Considerations  on  Divorce,  by  a  Barrister,  London,  1857,  pp.  5,  6. 


330 


Christ  and  Human  Law.  [Serm. 


distinct  from  the  merely  Jewish  sacrificial  one)  of  St.  Matt.  v.  23, 
24  1  I  rejoice  to  think  so  :  although  Tholuck  says,  "  The  Redeemer 
spoke  not  to  Christians,  but  to  Jews  :  no  wonder,  then,  if  His  dis- 
courses hear  traces  of  being  addressed  to  those  among  whom  the 
Jewish  worship  and  ceremonial  were  still  retained." 1  Tholuck's 
remark  may  be  pushed  too  far ;  but  its  legitimate  scope  would  not 
appear  to  be  exceeded  if  we  apply  it  to  the  two  clauses  occurring  in 
a  single  Gospel  written  confessedly  for  Jews,  which  on  any  other 
interpretation  are  inconsistent  with  the  law  elsewhere  and  always 
stated  absolutely  of  the  indissolubility  of  marriage. 

For  it  cannot  be  too  earnestly  repeated  that  the  consistent  teach- 
ing of  the  New  Testament  is  in  favour  of  this  principle.  The  Divine 
precepts,  given  without  any  qualification  by  St.  Mark  and  St.  Luke  ; 2 
the  Apostolical  arguments,  Rom.  vii.  1-3  ;  1  Cor.  vii.  10,  11  ;  Eph. 
v.  25-33,  all  point  one  way.  To  take  the  last:  "What  more 
irreconcilable  with  divorce  than  the  Apostolical  precepts,  Eph.  v. 
28-30  1  If  a  man  can  hate  his  own  body,  his  own  self,  his  own 
flesh  ;  if  the  Lord  Jesus  can  hate  and  forsake  His  Church  ;  then 
there  may  be  divorce  from  the  marriage-bond  among  Christians. 
Not  else."  3  Professor  Conington  believes  that  the  German  Reformed 
divines  are  right  in  saying  that  the  reason  why  adultery  destroys 
marriage  is  that  the  original  unitas  carnis  is  destroyed,  and  a  new 
one  formed.  He  appeals  to  1  Cor.  vi.  [16 1]  But  the  question  is 
whether  the  essence  of  marriage  lies  in  the  moral  contract  taken 
before  God,  or  in  the  mere  unitas  carnis.  If  the  latter,  then  every  act 
of  adultery  or  gross  indulgence  is  equivalent  to  the  making  of  a  new 
marriage-contract, — a  conclusion  which  even  Tholuck  is  apparently 
driven  to  accept.4  If  the  former,  then  human  unfaithfulness  cannot 
destroy  that  which  has  a  Divine  sanction :  man's  sin  cannot  really 
put  asunder  what  God  has  joined. 

The  fatal  concessions  to  which  the  German  Protestant  divines  are 
committed  do  not  avail  to  bridge  over  the  chasm  which  yawns 
between  the  legislation  of  their  country  on  the  subject  of  marriage 
and  that  which  they  still  believe  to  be  the  teaching  of  our  Divine 
Lord.  Tholuck  remarks,  that  down  to  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth 
century  no  grounds  of  divorce,  save  the  two  allowed  by  Luther  and 
Calvin,  that  is  to  say,  adultery  and  malicious  desertion,5  were  gener- 
ally sanctioned  by  the  statutes  of  the  Protestant  Church,  the  Con- 

1  Bergpred.  in  vv.  23,  24.  2  St.  Mark  x.  2-12.    St.  Luke  xvi.  18. 

3  Keble,  An  Argument  for  not  proceeding  immediately,  he,  p.  42. 

4  Bergpred.  in  St.  Matt.  v.  32. 

s  So  limited  in  Luther's  work,  Von  Ehesachen,  1530:  he  had  specified  four 
grounds  of  divorce  in  his  Von  Ehelichen  Leben,  1530.    Thol.,  Bergpred. 


XVI. ]         Christ  and  Human  Law. 


sistories,  and  the  writers  on  Ecclesiastical  law  ;  although  there  were 
some  exceptions  at  Zurich,  at  Basle,  in  Wurternberg  and  in  Prussia. 
With  the  period  of  "Illumination"  there  came  a  still  laxer  code. 
The  civil  courts  were  generally  invested  with  the  control  of  marriage 
affairs,  as  being  purely  civil  affairs.  New  reasons  for  divorce  were 
insisted  on,  such  as,  "  uncongeniality  of  disposition,"  "  irreconcilable 
enmity,"  and  the  like.  "  After  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century, 
the  influence  of  this  laxity  began  to  extend  even  to  the  law-books. 
Not  crime  merely  but  even  misfortune  was  considered  a  valid  ground 
for  divorce.  At  last,  the  Prussian  legislation,  having  arrived  at  the 
highest  pitch  of  1  illumination,'  sanctioned  divorce  by  mutual  consent 
where  the  marriage  was  childless,  thus  changing  it  into  a  matter  of 
contract  and  private  law." 1 

It  is  instructive  to  read  Olshausen's  commentary  on  the  passages 
in  St.  Matthew,  as  exhibiting  the  struggle  of  a  sincere  conscience 
vainly  endeavouring  to  be  loyal  at  one  and  the  same  moment  to  the 
teaching  of  Christ  and  to  the  unchristian  marriage-law  of  Protestant 
Germany.  Olshausen  abandons  the  endeavour  to  observe  even  that 
portion  of  our  Lord's  teaching  upon  marriage  which  he  still  upholds. 
And  to  do  this  the  better,  he  projects  a  distinction  between  an  ex- 
ternal and  an  internal  Church,  which,  if  it  could  be  accepted,  might 
help  us  to  set  aside  all  Christ's  moral  precepts  that  are  in  any  way 
distasteful  to  corrupt  human  nature.  "  The  external  Church,"  he 
argues,  "as  a  visible  institution  cannot  possibly  be  regarded  as  the 
expressed  ideal  of  the  kingdom  of  God.  It  is  rather  the  mere 
covering,  in  which  the  communion  of  all  the  faithful  is  enswathed, 
than  the  kernel  in  the  shell.  Hence  the  regulations  of  the  external 
Church  cannot  answer  to  the  ideal  requirements  of  the  fiaaiXda  •  but 
as  the  Church  occupies  the  Old  Testament  standing-ground  in  the 
majority  of  its  members,  it  must  also  order  its  regulations  in  con- 
formity to  the  Old  Testament.  As,  then,  in  the  Old  Testament  God 
permitted  not  only  divorces,  but  also  the  remarriage  of  the  separated 
persons,  so  the  Church  may  admit  modifications  of  our  Lord's  law,  as 
expressed  in  St.  Matt.  v.  31,  32.  Indeed  the  Church  must  do  so."2 
The  "  external "  Church  of  Christ  would,  upon  this  supposition,  be 
defined  as  a  body  of  professing  Christians  who  cannot  be  expected 
to  keep  the  moral  precepts  of  Christ.  Is  it  not  plain  that  some  of 
the  best  divines  of  Protestant  Germany  are  fatally  influenced  by 
civil  laws  and  a  public  opinion  which  they  should  improve  or 
resist ;  the  power  of  a  corrupt  human  tradition  blinding  them  to  the 
requirements  of  the  Word  of  God  ] 

May  He  grant  that  it  be  not  so  among  ourselves  ! 

1  Bergpredigt,  in  St.  Matt.  v.  32.  2  Comm.  in  St.  Matt.  v.  31. 


SERMON  XVII. 


THE  CUKE  OF  LOW  SPIRITS. 

Psalm  xliii .  5 . 

Why  art  thou  cast  down,  0  my  soul  ?  and  why  art  thou  disquieted  within 
me?  hope  in  God:  for  I  shall  yet  praise  Him,  Who  is  the  health  of 
my  countenance,  and  my  God. 

THIS  verse  forms  the  thrice-repeated  chorus  of  a  psalm 
which,  in  the  judgment  of  Ewald — a  very  good 
authority  on  a  point  of  this  kind — is  in  respect  of  imagery 
and  structure  finer  than  any  other  in  the  Psalter.  The 
forty-second  and  forty-third  psalms  originally  formed  a 
single  poem,  consisting  of  three  strophes ;  and  each  of  these 
strophes  closed  with  the  lines  of  the  text,  slightly  varied. 
The  writer  of  the  psalm,  whether  a  king,  or,  more  pro- 
bably, a  Levite,  is  in  exile.  He  is  dwelling  on  the 
Hermons,  the  mountain  ridge  to  the  east  of  the  Jordan, 
and  among  men  of  fierce  habits  and  alien  faith.  That 
which  is  passing  within  his  soul  seems  to  him  to  be  re- 
flected in  the  natural  scenes  around  him.  He  marks  a 
gazelle  as  it  climbs,  panting,  up  the  rocky  bed  of  some 
ravine,  in  search  of  one  of  the  pools  which  may  have  been 
left  by  the  winter  torrents.  He  is  at  once  reminded  of  his 
own  unappeased  longing  for  that  Being  Who  alone  can 
quench  the  thirst  of  the  soul  of  man.1  He  is  overtaken  by 
one  of  these  violent  storms  which  burst  suddenly,  travellers 
1  Ps.  xlii.  1. 


The  Cure  of  Low  Spirits.  333 

say,  on  these  mountain-sides.  Presently  the  watercourses 
resound  as  with  the  roar  of  a  cataract ;  and  as  the  thunder 
reverberates  from  hill  to  hill,  and  deep  seems  to  call  to 
deep,  and  the  Psalmist  is  exposed  to  the  pitiless  rain,  it 
is  as  though  all  the  waves  and  billows  of  God  had  gone 
over  him.1  For  the  thunder  and  the  rain  do  but  represent 
the  storm  of  secret  sorrow  which  is  beating  on  his  soul; 
and  as  his  thought  turns  back  to  bygone  years,  he  re- 
members how  at  the  great  festivals  thousands  of  pilgrims 
would  gather  within  the  sacred  city,  and  how  he  himself 
went  out  with  this  multitude  in  solemn  procession  and 
brought  them  into  the  house  of  God,  with  the  voice  of 
praise  and  thanksgiving  among  such  as  keep  holyday.2 
How  can  he  resign  himself  to  the  unworthy  fear  that  all 
the  spiritual  joy  of  those  festive  days  is  gone  for  ever  ? 
How  can  he  but  pray  that  the  Light  and  Truth  of  God 
may  be  sent  forth  to  lead  him  home,  so  that  he  may 
spend  the  time  that  yet  remains  to  him  in  thankful 
praise  ? 3 

Each  of  the  strophes,  among  which  this  train  of  thought 
is  distributed,  ends  with  the  words  of  the  text,  "  Why  art 
thou  so  cast  down,  0  my  soul  ?  and  wThy  art  thou  so  dis- 
quieted within  me  ?  hope  thou  in  God :  for  I  shall  yet 
praise  Him,  Who  is  the  health  of  my  countenance,  and  my 
God."  The  Psalmist,  you  will  have  observed,  is  in  col- 
loquy with  himself:  he  is  at  once  physician  and  patient, 
adviser  and  advised.  By  a  strong  effort  of  imagination  he 
detaches  his  life  of  feeling  and  experience,  his  depressed, 
disheartened  self,  from  the  higher,  judicial,  inspired  self 
which  presides  at  the  centre  of  his  being :  he  projects,  as 
it  were,  into  the  sunlight  this  second  self,  that  it  may  be 
inspected  and  set  right.  And  thus  as  the  viceroy  and 
delegate  of  God  he  judges  himself;  he  observes,  he  cross- 
questions,  he  rebukes,  he  counsels.  "  Why  art  thou  so 
1  Ps.  xlii.  9.  2  Ps.  xlii.  4,  5.  3  Ps.  xliii.  2-4. 


334  The  Cure  of  Low  Spirits.  [Serm. 

cast  down,  0  my  soul  ?  and  why  art  thou  so  disquieted 
within  me  ? "  A  somewhat  similar  recognition  of  a  higher 
and  a  lower  self  is  observable  when  the  Apostle,  at  a  par- 
ticular stage  of  his  own  experience,  while  also  conceiving 
himself  to  represent  the  general  experience  of  adult 
converts  to  the  Faith  of  Christ,  "  sees  another  law  in  his 
members  warring  against  the  law  of  his  mind,"  and  so 
•'  with  the  mind  he  himself  serves  the  law  of  God,  but  with 
the  flesh  the  law  of  sin."  1 

Bern  ark  here  that  if  Holy  Scripture  addresses  itself  to 
the  darker  moods  of  the  human  soul,  it  is  in  order  to  help 
us  to  master  them  or  turn  them  to  some  good  account. 
There  are  modern  poets  who  throw  themselves  into  the 
gloomy  thoughts,  or  even  into  the  sullen  passions  of  men, 
only  to  give  them  more  exquisite  and  luxurious  expression; 
only  to  prolong  by  re  lining  that  which  they  cannot  chasten 
or  consecrate.  Not  so  the  Bible.  If  it  turns  the  eye  upon 
the  sadness  and  disquiet  of  the  soul,  it  is  to  bid  it  "  hope 
in  God,"  and  so  rise  into  an  atmosphere  of  joy  and  peace. 
There  is  indeed  one  book  in  the  Bible  in  which  this  rule 
might  at  first  sight  seem  to  be  forgotten ;  and  perhaps,  on 
this  account,  the  Book  of  Ecclesiastes  is  welcomed  in  some 
quarters  of  the  modern  world  not  usually  well  disposed 
towards  any  portion  of  the  Sacred  Writings.  It  had  such 
attractions  for  Voltaire  that,  as  is  well  known,  he  rendered 
it,  with  indifferent  success,  into  French  verse.  Heine 
meant  to  pay  it  a  compliment  when  he  quoted  it  as  "  The 
Song  of  Scepticism."  And  the  vigorous  writer,  who  since 
his  master's  death  is  understood  to  be  the  best  representa- 
tive of  the  Pessimist  philosophy,  describes  this  book  as 
"  the  Breviary  of  the  most  modern  Materialism."  2 

The  truth  is  that  Holy  Scripture  often  exposes  itself  to 
misunderstanding  by  its  very  condescension,  just  as  did 
our  Lord  when  His  critics  complained  that  He  ate  and  drank 

1  Rom.  vii.  23,  25.  1  Cf.  Delitzsch's  Ecclesiastes,  Int. 


I 


XVII.]       The  Cn re  of  Low  Spirits.  335 

with  publicans  and  sinners.  The  Preacher  makes  a  bold 
venture,  for  he  has  in  view  a  noble  aim.  He  wishes  to  con- 
vince us  that  God  is  the  one  Object  worth  living  for ;  that 
when  living  in  the  fear  of  God  man  accomplishes  his 
highest  duty  and  secures  his  true  wellbeing.  In  order  to 
show  this  he  sets  out  on  a  grand  tour  of  the  world ;  and  if 
some  of  his  observations  could  be  justly  isolated  from  the 
general  scheme  of  his  work,  they  might  almost  find  their 
place  in  a  philosophy  of  despair.  Again  and  again  he 
utters  the  mournful  cry,  "  Vanity  of  vanities,  all  is  vanity." 
The  uniformities  of  nature,  the  recurrence  of  sunrise  anil 
sunset,  the  perpetual  running  of  the  rivers  towards  the  sea, 
which  yet  they  do  not  fill, seem  to  him  to  be  a  gentle  mockery 
of  man's  effort  to  reach  an  object  beyond  himself — an 
object  at  once  definite  and  lasting.1  And  the  Preacher's 
own  experiences  are  in  harmony  with  this  presentiment. 
He  finds  no  solid  satisfaction  in  his  search  after  earthly 
knowledge;2  he  finds  no  true  pleasures  in  earthly  joys.3 
The  wise  man  does  but  end  as  the  fool  ;4  one  event  happens, 
apparently,  to  a  man  and  to  a  beast  :5  better  off  than  either 
the  living  or  the  dead  are  those  who  are  not  yet  born,  and 
who  know  nothing  of  a  world  which  is  everywhere  the 
scene  of  misery  and  failure.6  So  thorough  is  the  writer's 
sympathy  with  these  aspects  of  life,  that  we  may  fancy 
ourselves  listening  to  a  Hebrew  Lucretius,  until  at  last  we 
all  at  once  find  that  our  guide  is  only  depreciating  the 
visible  for  the  sake  of  the  Unseen,  and  the  present  in  the 
interests  of  the  Future,  and  the  finite  that  he  may  the 
better  secure  a  home  in  the  human  soul  for  the  Infinite. 
Come  what  will,  and  do  what  we  may,  one  thing,  he  in- 
sists, is  certain:  we  shall  be  judged.7  Let  others  give 
what  advice   they  list,  his  concluding  maxim  is  this, 

1  Eccles.  i.  3-8.  2  Eccles.  i.  14-18.  3  Eccles.  ii.  3-1 1. 

4  Eccles.  ii.  14.  6  Eccles.  iii.  19.  8  Eccles.  iv.  3. 

7  Eccles.  xi.  9;  xii.  14. 


336 


The  Cure  of  Low  Spirits.  [Serm. 


"  Fear  God,  and  keep  His  commandments :  for  this  is  the 
whole  duty  of  man." 1 

Melancholy,  we  all  know,  is  not,  even  from  a  purely 
natural  point  of  view,  strictly  in  order.  There  is  some- 
thing in  us  which  proclaims  it  to  be  an  intruder  on 
the  field  of  human  nature,  and  which  prompts  us  to 
challenge  it,  and  bid  it  give  an  account  of  itself.  Nor  is 
it  so  unwonted  a  visitor  in  average  lives  that  to  do  this 
would  be  a  loss  of  time.  The  conventional  cheerfulness 
which  meets  the  eye  is  often  the  veil  of  a  sternly  repressed 
sadness ;  and  young  men  who  have  not  reached  the  noon- 
day of  life  have  been  conscious  of  a  depression  which  is 
not  charmed  away  by  the  boisterous  merriment  in  which 
it  is  for  the  moment  forgotten.  The  Psalmist's  question  is 
always  a  very  practical  one  for  a  large  number  of  human 
beings :  "  Why  art  thou  so  full  of  heaviness,  0  my  soul  ? 
and  why  art  thou  so  disquieted  within  me  ? " 

How  would  this  question  be  answered  in  our  day  ? 

I. 

One  answer  to  it  would  be  sought  in  physical  tempera- 
ment. "  With  me,"  many .  a  man  will  say,  "  low  spirits 
are  constitutional ;  I  am  no  more  responsible  for  them  than 
I  am  for  the  colour  of  my  hair  or  the  length  of  my  arms 
and  legs.  They  may  seem  to  be  produced  by  outward 
circumstances  or  by  mental  peculiarities ;  they  are  really  a 
product  of  the  bodily  constitution.  The  outer  world  becomes 
what  it  is  to  man  in  consequence  of  the  ingredients  of 
man's  animal  nature ;  these  ingredients  produce  sensations 
which  our  human  logic,  misled  by  self-love,  attributes  to  such 
fanciful  abstractions  as  soul  or  mind ;  and  thus  all  around 
us  is  coloured  with  bright  or  sombre  hues  as  the  case  may 

1  Eccles.  xii.  13. 


XVII. 


The  Cure  of  Low  Spirits. 


be."  According  to  a  foreign  lecturer  on  anthropology,  "  the 
melancholic  temperament  is  due  to  a  disproportion  between 
the  force  of  the  emotions  and  the  force  of  the  purely 
voluntary  movements  of  the  body,  whereby  impressions, 
at  once  vivid  and  numerous,  come  to  be  amassed  or 
capitalized  in  the  nervous  system,  from  not  being  distri- 
buted as  they  arise  in  due  order  and  proportion."  1  The 
result,  we  are  told,  is  depressed  spirits ;  but  "  what  looks 
like  a  condition  of  mind  is,  in  reality,  merely  a  condition 
pf  the  nervous  system." 

Upon  this  representation  it  is  obvious  to  remark  that  it 
is  not  satisfactorily  borne  out  by  experience.    As  a  matter 
of  fact  we  know — every  one  of  us  must  know  in  varying 
degrees — that  what  we  call  temperament  is  to  a  great 
extent  under  the  control  of  our  wills.    True  indeed  it  is 
that,  for  all  of  us,  at  times,  "  the  corruptible  body  presseth 
down  the  soul."  2    When  we  set  out  in  life  each  of  us  is 
endowed  by  our  Creator  with  certain  moral  predispositions, 
of  which  His  unerring  Justice  will  surely  take  account 
when  He  comes  to  deal  with  each  separate  life  as  a 
moral  whole,  whose  day  of  growth  and  probation  has  at  last 
been  closed.    And  these  predispositions  may  well  have 
roots  and   sympathetic   tendencies   reaching   into  and 
diffused  over  our  bodily  frames ;  so  that  the  lecturer  just 
now  quoted  may  be  perfectly  accurate  in  his  analysis 
of  the  physical  conditions  which  attach  to  melancholy. 
But  it  is  not  true  that  what  we  are  morally  is  wholly  pre- 
determined by  the  phenomena  which  reveal  themselves  to 
scientific  anatomy ;  rather  these  phenomena  are,  in  not  a 
few  cases,  moulded,  if  not  produced,  by  our  moral  charac- 
teristics.    We  may  have  a  constitutional  tendency  to 
depression ;  but  we  can  give  way  to  it  until  it  sways  us 
irresistibly,  or  we  can  check,  thwart,  and  altogether  over- 
come it  by  cultivating  an  opposite  habit  of  mind.   The  moods 

1  So  Henle  quoted  by  Caro,  Pessirnisme,  p.  279.  2  Wisd.  ix.  15. 

Y 


338 


The  Cure  of  Low  Spirits.  [Serm. 


of  our  souls  are  not  really  like  our  hair  or  the  leaves  of  a 
plant, — things  which  grow  up  and  present  themselves  with- 
out our  having  anything  to  say  to  them.  We  can  give  them 
free  course  by  indulgence ;  we  can  train  or  we  can  quell 
them  by  self-discipline.  And  to  answer  the  Psalmist's 
question  by  saying  that  the  soul  is  cast  down  and  dis- 
quieted in  consequence  of  an  original  temperament  which 
irresistibly  depresses  it,  is  to  contradict  everyday  and 
universal  experience  of  the  imperial  power  of  the  will. 
Be  sure  that  He  Who  made  each  one  of  us  does  not  ask  at 
our  hands  that  which  He  has  Himself  made  it  impossible 
that  we  should  give  Him.  For  He  has  not  left  us  to  our- 
selves :  He  is  ready  to  help  us  to  learn  the  secret  of  peace 
and  joy  in  the  soul;  and  His  gifts  of  supernatural  grace 
do  their  work,  whatever  be  the  physical  temperament  with 
which  He  may  have  endowed  us  at  the  outset  of  our 
journey. 

II. 

A  second  answer  to  the  Psalmist's  question  is  furnished 
by  a  despairing  philosophy  of  life.  How,  it  has  been  said, 
can  a  man  think  at  all,  and  not  take  a  gloomy  view  of 
human  existence  ? 

Pessimism  is  in  part  a  recoil  from  those  extravagant 
pictures  of  a  regenerated  world  in  which  theophilanthropy, 
as  it  was  called,  and  kindred  forms  of  opinion  towards  the 
close  of  the  last  century  were  wont  to  revel.  But  it  is  also 
intimately  connected  with  the  materialistic  denial  of  God 
which  has  superseded  the  pantheism  of  a  former  genera- 
tion. Pantheism,  which  identifies  all  that  exists  with  God, 
carries  its  optimism  to  the  disregard  even  of  what  is  due 
to  truth  and  righteousness;  while  atheism,  in  virtue  of 
the  very  arguments  to  which  it  mainly  makes  appeal,  is 
pessimist  in  its  estimate  of  the  world  and  of  life.  Besides 


XVII.]       The  Cure  of  Lou  Spirits.  339 


this,  great  ideas,  which  Christianity  presupposes,  and  which 
it  authoritatively  consecrates  by  making  them  practical 
forces  in  human  conduct,  have  been  of  late  years  assailed 
as  passionately  as  if  they  had  been  specifically  Christian 
doctrines,  and  with  disastrous  effect  upon  large  classes  of 
minds.  It  is  surely  no  light  thing  to  be  parting  with  con- 
victions which,  in  more  or  less  perfect  forms,  have  braced 
the  noblest  men  for  the  battle  of  life  ever  since  the  dawn 
of  civilization.  Belief  in  a  future  state,  for  which  this 
life  is  au  education,  to  be  achieved  through  resistance 
to  obstacles  and  by  endurance  of  pain,  is  now  treated  as 
the  creation  of  man's  enterprising  vanity.  Conscience  is 
pronounced  to  be  a  conglomerate  of  consecrated  prejudices. 
Duty  is  clung  to,  even  earnestly,  by  writers  who  have 
parted  with  immortality  and  with  God,  in  the  hope  that 
duty  may  furnish  an  object  in  life  sufficiently  ideal  to 
dignify  it  when  it  is  deprived  of  any  superhuman  sanctions  ; 
and  yet  even  duty  is  said  to  be  a  merely  relative  concep- 
tion, or  to  be  a  formula  devised  with  the  object  of  inducing 
the  individual  to  make  the  efforts  and  sacrifices  which  the 
good  of  the  species  requires  at  his  hands. 

When,  so  to  speak,  the  ground  has  been  thus  cleared  of 
moral  ideas  previously  in  possession,  it  is  natural  for  a 
philosophy  to  arise  which  shall  endeavour  to  make  out  a 
case  against  the  worth  of  life.  In  his  work  on  "  The  World 
as  Will  and  Representation  'n  Schopenhauer  attempts  this, 
by  a  theory  of  the  universe  as  the  product  of  a  blind 
force  which  he  calls  Will.  Will,  he  says,  is  always 
endeavouring  to  assert  itself  in  the  shape  of  life.  Will  has 
been  doing  this,  we  learn,  from  all  eternity ;  it  has  been 
urging  the  possible  to  become  real,  and  then  constantly 
giving  a  higher  and  higher  form  to  the  reality.  After 
expressing  itself  in  inorganic  nature,  Will  issues  in  the 
vegetable  and  the  animal  kingdoms ;  and  when  at  last  it 

1  Die  Welt  als  Willc  und  Vorstcllung,  Leipzig. 


340 


The  Cicre  of  Low  Spirits. 


[Serm. 


succeeds  in  evolving  man,  it  has  attained  the  stage  of  con- 
sciousness. Life  is  thus  always  and  essentially  Will ;  life 
is  the  effort  or  will  to  live.  But,  according  to  Schopenhauer, 
Will  is  never  dissociated  from  pain ;  and  thus  life  is  an 
evil,  and  its  misery  is  proportionate  to  the  degree  of  its 
development.  The  highest  life  involves  the  greatest 
suffering.  In  the  animal  the  evil  of  life  is  felt,  but  not 
recognised ;  but  it  is  man's  prerogative  misfortune  to 
know  that  the  exercise  of  will  is  effort,  and  that  all  effort 
is  pain.  Man  understands  that  to  live  is  to  will,  and  that 
to  will  is  to  suffer ;  and  thus  individual  human  life  is  but 
a  prolonged  and  painful  struggle  to  assert  existence,  with 
the  full  perception  of  its  intrinsic  misery  and  the  recog- 
nised certainty  of  being  conquered  at  last. 

It  will  have  already  occurred  to  you  that  this  identifica- 
tion of  will  with  pain  is  not  in  accord  with  experience. 
Even  if  life  may  with  a  qualified  propriety  be  described  as 
effort,  it  does  not  follow  that  effort  is  always  pain.  Not 
seldom  effort  is  its  own  satisfaction  and  joy — a  joy  which 
is  sometimes  positively  enhanced  by  the  obstacles  which 
it  encounters.  Perhaps  the  very  purest  joys  in  human 
life  are  inseparable  from  effort,  pursued  in  spite  of 
obstacles  and  at  length  surmounting  them :  effort  which 
extracts  truth  from  what  is  dark,  or  beauty  and  order 
from  what  is  hideous  and  confused;  effort  which  is, 
perchance,  at  first  painful,  but  which,  ere  it  has  ended,  is 
in  possession  of  a  joy  which  more  than  obliterates  the 
sense  of  pain ;  effort  which  does  thus  exhilarate,  because 
we  feel  that  it  purifies  and  ennobles  us,  that  it  saves 
us  from  sinking  down  under  the  material  weight  of 
nature,  that  it  rescues  us  from  the  empire  of  sense 
and  the  importunities  of  passion,  that  it  enables  us 
to  bear  our  burden,  whatever  it  be,  when  time  hangs 
heavily  and  our  hearts  are  low.  If  there  was  nothing 
else  to  be  said  of  the  philosophy  before  us,  this  would 


XVII.]       The  Cure  of  Low  Spirits. 


341 


have  to  be  said  about  it; — that  its  central  and  most  char- 
acteristic position,  which  identifies  effort  unreservedly 
with  pain,  is  a  libel  upon  human  nature ;  since  man  finds 
an  exquisite  satisfaction  in  fashioning  something  beyond 
himself,  in  mastering  the  difficulties  which  oppose  him,  in 
gaining  a  more  vivid  sense  of  his  personal  existence  in  the 
very  energy  of  his  struggle,  and  in  conquering  some  little 
corner  of  nature  or  thought,  however  precariously,  "that 
he  may  joy  as  with  the  joy  of  harvest,  and  as  men  rejoice 
when  they  divide  the  spoil." 

Life,  then,  is  so  miserable  and  worthless,  according  to 
Schopenhauer,  because  life  is  will,  and  will  is  effort,  and 
effort  is  pain.  But  Schopenhauer  is  haunted  by  the  idea  of 
Will  as  a  malignant  power  which  fills  all  living  creatures, 
and  specially  man,  with  mischievous  illusions.  Eveiy- 
thing  in  human  nature  which  aggrandizes,  or  protects,  or 
regulates  life,  from  the  lowest  forms  of  instinct  to  the 
highest  affirmations  of  conscience,  is  regarded  by  this 
singular  philosopher  as  the  product  of  a  hostile  influence, 
which  deceives  that  it  may  torture  us,  by  ensuring  or 
extending  our  share  in  the  weird  misery  of  existence.1  It 
is  strange,  as  has  been  well  said,  that  Schopenhauer  does 
not  suspect  the  value  of  his  supposed  discovery.  If, 
indeed,  some  subtle  influence  has  succeeded  in  bewitching 
man  for  these  many  thousands  of  years,  why  should  it 
allow  itself  to  be  at  last  thus  detected  by  a  solitary  thinker 
when  it  must  have  at  its  disposal  so  many  means  for 
perpetuating  an  illusion  which  has  lasted  so  long  ?  Is  it 
not  reasonable,  on  the  part  of  a  brilliant  critic,  to  regard 
the  discovery  of  the  presumed  illusion  as  more  illusory 
than  the  illusion  itself? 

Certainly  it  must  be  granted  that  the  theory  before  us 
does  not  shrink  from  conclusions  which  logically  belong  to 

1  See  the  interesting  article  by  M.  Challemel  Lacour,  1 '  Un  Bouddhiste 
conteruporain,"  Revue  des  Dcux-Afondcs,  15  Mars,  1S70. 


342 


The  Cure  of  Low  Spirits. 


[Serm. 


it.  Even  intellectual  progress  is  deplored  on  the  strictly 
consistent  ground  that  it  involves  an  increased  capacity 
for  pain.  Stupidity  has  the  advantage  of  genius,  and 
animal  of  human  nature ;  while  the  really  happy  moments 
of  existence  are  those  which  we  pass  in  sleep,  provided 
only  that  sleep  be  deep  enough  to  exclude  dreams,  in 
which  an  approach  to  the  exercise  of  will  is  possible.  No 
doubt  it  is  true  that  a  higher  intelligence,  enhancing  the 
range  of  life  in  all  directions,  does  involve  a  higher  capacity 
for  pain ;  and  this  consideration  may  enable  Christians  dis- 
tantly to  understand  what  must  have  been  the  bodily,  and 
still  more  the  mental  Agony  of  our  Divine  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  in  His  Passion.1  But  if  pain  goes  hand  in  hand  with 
heightening  intelligence,  intelligence  has  at  its  command 
pleasures  which  outweigh  the  augmentation  of  pain. 
Thought,  which  is  the  source  of  so  much  suffering,  is  also 
the  source  of  the  purest  and -most  exquisite  enjoyment; 
and,  as  a  mere  matter  of  calculation,  the  debt  of  suffering 
which  a  highly  sensitive  mind  like  St.  Augustine's  or 
Galileo's  pays  for  its  existence  is  more  than  cancelled  by 
the  pure  enthusiasm  which  is  experienced  in  fresh  mental 
contact  with  previously  unknown  or  uncontemplated  truth. 
Still  Pessimism  is  simply  consistent  in  teaching  men  to 
regret  that  they  are  not  animals;  and  it  does  not  shrink 
from  going  a  step  beyond.  If  life  is  on  the  whole  neces- 
sarily wretched,  for  the  reasons  which  have  been  referred 
to,  it  were  surely  better  that  life  should  cease.  Accord- 
ingly Schopenhauer  praises  celibacy,  not  on  the  ground 
which  St.  Paul  urges  on  the  Corinthians,  that  it  enables 
men  to  "attend  upon  the  Lord  without  distraction,"2  but 
because  each  nnwedded  life  is,  in  his  eyes,  a  step  towards 

1  "  Ritorna  a  tua  scienza, 
Che  vuol,  quanto  la  cosa  e  piu  perfetta 
Piu  senta  '1  bene,  e  cosi  la  doglienza." 

Inf.  vi.  106. 

2  1  Cor.  vii.  35. 


XVII.]       The  Cure  of  Low  Spirits. 


343 


an  end  which  true  philosophy  must  desire — the  extinction 
of  the  human  race.1  And  other  and  far  graver  practical 
inferences  too  naturally  follow — inferences  as  to  which 
charity  and  reverence  would  alike  suggest  silence,  at  least 
here  and  now. 

Certainly,  since  the  death  of  its  projector,  this  singular 
fabric  of  speculation,  or  parts  of  it,  has  been  modified  or 
discredited,  and  indeed  by  some  of  its  prominent  adherents.2 
The  wisdom  of  all  philosophies  which  would  dethrone  or 
supersede  God  is  to  keep  rigidly  to  negative  statements ; 
when  once  they  venture  to  advance  a  positive  doctrine  .as 
to  the  origin  or  nature  of  the  universe  or  of  life,  they  are 
in  a  fair  way  to  get  into  difficulties,  and,  if  experience  may 
be  trusted,  these  difficulties  will  certainly  be  pointed  out 
without  the  intervention  of  Christian  apologists.  Indeed, 
as  we  Christians  look  on,  wTe  are  reminded  of  the  boy  on 
the  sea-sands  in  the  Iliad : — 

ws  ore  Tts  ^\ra\xaQov  Trai's  o.y\L  Oakd(T(rrjs, 
00V  l—ei  ovv  —oiqcnj  dOvpi-Lara  vqrr tez/crtv, 
a\fr  avns  ^vvkyeve  Trcxriv  koll  xe/Dcrtv  advptav. 

And  yet  it  would  be  a  great  mistake  to  suppose  that 
a  theory  which  some  few  years  since  fascinated  large 
classes  in  educated  Germany  has  as  yet  been  forgotten,  or 
that  it  has  had  no  influence  on  English  thought.  In  its 
original  form,  indeed,  it  is  as  little  likely  to  command 
wide  sympathy  in  England  as  is  the  Indian  doctrine 
which  it  virtually  recommends.  But  the  educated  world 
of  Europe  is  too  much  of  a  unity  for  any  powerful  influence 
to  be  entirely  localized ;  the  practical  results  of  a  theory 
may  be  accepted  in  quarters  where  its  specific  form  would 
be  exceedingly  unwelcome.    The  heavy  ground-swell  tells 

1  Revue  des  Dcuz-Jlondes,  ubi  supra. 

2  Even  Hartmann  rejects  Schopenhauer's  doctrine  of  the  purely  nega- 
tive character  of  pleasure. 


344 


The  Cure  of  Low  Spirits.  [Serm. 


the  voyager  across  the  Atlantic  of  a  distant  hurricane, 
whose  violence  indeed  he  has  escaped,  but  which  still  costs 
him  a  full  measure  of  inconvenience.  A  sullen  discontent 
with  the  general  conditions  of  existence  is  not  the  less 
influential  because  the  genius  of  a  practical  people  does 
not  care  to  decorate  it  with  the  formal  completeness  of  a 
paradoxical  theory ;  rather  among  us  it  is  like  the  under- 
tone of  sadness  which  lay  in  weird  mockery  beneath  the 
bright  surface  of  the  old  Greek  life,  and  its  reappearance  is 
marked  by  the  very  symptoms  which  before  accompanied 
it  at  the  date  of  the  Eenaissance.  Both  in  Germany  and 
England  the  increase  of  suicide  in  the  educated  classes  has 
of  late  years  been  unhappily  notorious;  and  while  this 
deplorable  fact  may  be  partly  explained  by  reference  to 
other  causes,  it  can  scarcely  be  doubted  that  dissatisfaction 
with  the  conditions  of  an  existence  from  which  God  is 
presumed  to  have  been  banished  by  modern  speculation,  is 
the  most  powerful  agency.  Yes,  brethren,  depend  on  it, 
it  is  the  thought  of  a  Just  and  Merciful  God,  and  all 
that  that  thought  implies,  which  makes  life  tolerable  if 
we  allow  ourselves  to  think  what  life  is.  If  the  souls 
of  men  in  our  day  are  often  cast  down  and  their  hearts 
disquieted;  if  a  nightmare  such  as  I  have  referred  to, 
giving  itself  the  airs  of  a  philosophy,  is  not  without 
influence,  subtle  but  strong,  upon  a  practical  and  instructed 
generation  like  our  own,  it  is  because  He  has  been  lost 
sight  of,  or  put  out  of  sight,  in  Whom  we  live  and  move 
and  have  our  being ;  He  Who  has  indeed  given  us  life,  not 
because  He  needed  us,  but  out  of  His  Own  abounding 
goodness ;  He  in  Whose  service  alone  we  can  hope  to  find 
the  secret  of  our  happiness  and  peace ;  He  Whom  Chris- 
tians know  and  love  as  a  Father  through  union  with  His 
Son  Jesus  Christ.  To  live  beneath  the  smile  of  our 
Father  in  Heaven  is  to  understand  both  the  worth  of  life 
and  the  worth  of  theories  which  disparage  it. 


XVII.]       The  Cure  of  Low  Spirits. 


345 


III. 

But  the  answers  to  the  Psalmist's  question  which 
are  more  commonly  and  truly  given  are  independent  of 
the  peculiarities  of  temperament  and  of  the  eccentricities 
of  thought. 

There  is,  first  of  all,  temporal  misfortune.  The  troubles 
of  life  do  weigh  the  soul  down.  The  years  as  they  pass 
bring  shocks  and  heartaches ;  and  these  do  not  leave  us 
as  we  were.  First  this,  then  that  object,  which  we  had 
hoped  to  compass,  is  seen  to  be  beyond  our  reach.  First 
this  and  then  that  friend  of  our  youth  and  manhood,  or 
it  may  be  a  wife  or  a  son,  disappears  from  view,  and  goes 
on  his  way  to  the  last  account.  There  are  warnings 
too  which  we  cannot  mistake  that  for  us  who  remain  the 
time  is  short,  and  that  already  we  carry  about  in  ourselves 
the  presentiment  of  what  is  coming.  Young  men  do  not 
feel  this,  but  they  will  not  have  long  to  wait  before  they  do. 
It  were  needless  to  speak  of  trials  of  exceptional  severity,  of 
the  misconduct  of  those  who  are  nearest  and  dearest,  of 
the  cruel  injustice  of  trusted  friends,  of  the  mental  anguish 
which  in  sensitive  natures  may  be  worse,  far  worse,  than 
death. 

Trouble  is  no  new  visitant ;  it  has  waited  on  human  life 
throughout  the  centuries.  That  man  is  born  to  it,  as  the 
sparks  fly  upwards,  is  not  the  judgment  of  yesterday. 
And  it  does  depress  and  disturb  the  soul.  So  it  was  with 
the  patriarch  when  he  believed  that  a  wild  beast  had  rent 
his  son  in  pieces ;  so  it  was  with  Eizpah,  the  daughter  of 
Aiah,  when  she  kept  watch  by  night  and  by  day  over  the 
mangled  bodies  of  her  children ;  so  it  was  with  Hezekiah 
in  his  sickness  when  death  seemed  near  at  hand,  and  he 
turned  his  face  to  the  wall  and  wept  sore ;  so  it  was  with 
the  captives  in  Babylon  when  they  sat  down  by  the  waters 


34^ 


The  Cure  of  Low  Spirits.  [Serm. 


and  remembered  Sion.  Sorrow  is  but  a  phrase  until  we 
have  known  it  as  an  experience ;  and  when  it  does  come, 
the  mass  of  men  give  way  to  it  and  are  for  the  time  over- 
come by  it. 

There  have  been  philosophers,  no  doubt,  who  in  this 
and  other  matters  have  tried  to  reason  Nature  out  of 
Nature's  ways,  and  have  succeeded  in  violently  dislodging 
her  for  a  while  from  the  human  soul,  even  though  at  last 
she  has  come  back  with  a  bound  to  reassert  her  ancient 
instincts.  And  treatises  have  been  written  on  virtues 
achieved  by  the  practical  extinction  of  feeling ;  treatises 
which  the  world  still  reads  for  the  beauty  of  their 
language,  or  from  respect  for  the  character  of  their  authors. 
Nor  may  we  forget  some  great  and  noble  men,  appearing 
from  time  to  time  in  the  old  heathen  ages,  who  have  dis- 
played the  courage  which  does  not  shrink  from  sorrow, 
and  which  yet  is  not  overcome  by  it. 

But  the  rule  is  that  trouble  does  crush  man,  unless  man 
can  lay  strong  hold  on  One  Who  altogether  transcends 
human  life  and  its  vicissitudes.  Trouble  is  indeed  His 
messenger ;  it  is  an  invitation  to  make  friends  with  Him ; 
it  robs  life  of  its  radiance  and  its  vigour,  while,  stripping 
it  of  its  tinsel  and  unreality,  it  leaves  man  face  to  face  with 
the  weakness,  the  nothingness  of  the  unassisted  soul.  And 
surely  its  work,  being  thus  a  proclamation  of  naked  truth, 
is  also  a  work  of  true  mercy ;  so  that  "  whom  the  Lord 
loveth  He  chasteneth,"  and  "if  ye  be  without  chastise- 
ment, whereof  all  are  partakers,  then  are  ye  bastards,  and 
not  sons."  1 

There  was  lately  one  among  us,  the  bearer  of  a  great 
name,  and  who  has  been  suddenly  withdrawn,  in  whom 
this  law  was  conspicuously  illustrated.2    To  him  trouble 

1  Heb.  xii.  6,  8. 

2  Philip  Edward  Tusey  died  at  Christ  Church,  January  14,  1880,  aged 
forty-nine. 


XVII.]       The  Cure  of  Low  Spirits. 


347 


came  early,  and  in  such  fashion  and  such  force  that  most 
men  would  have  sunk  under  it,  or  at  any  rate  would  have 
persuaded  themselves  that  it  more  than  justified  a  life  of 
despairing  apathy.  He  too  was  keenly  alive  to  what  he 
might  have  been,  to  what  he  was,  to  what  others  were,  who, 
being  his  contemporaries  and  his  inferiors,  passed  before 
him  in  the  race  of  life ;  but  he  never  was  heard  to  wish 
that  God's  will  respecting  him  had  not  been  what  it  really 
was.  If  he  could  not  hold  much  converse  with  living 
men,  he  could  and  did  converse  much  with  God,  and  with 
the  great  minds  of  other  days  in  books.  'He  has  left  behind 
him  work  to  which  scholars  only  can  do  justice ;  work 
which  will  outlive  much  of  which  the  world  hears  and  talks 
more ;  work  which  was  done,  as  from  first  to  last  his  life 
was  lived,  in  the  hope  of  no  human  reward,  but  as  an 
expression  of  that  tranquil  confidence  in  God  which  made 
existence  not  merely  tolerable,  but  bright  and  thankful. 
As  he  passes  from  our  sight  and  we  follow  him  with  our 
prayers  and  hopes,  we  understand  how  life  may  be  en- 
riched by  trouble ;  how  the  house  of  mourning  may  be 
better  than  the  house  of  feasting;  nay,  why,  when  the 
Immaculate  Himself  deigned  to  come  anions:  us.  He  was 
yet  made  perfect  through  suffering,1  though  after  a  manner 
and  measure  that  sinners  may  not  comprehend.  The  sun, 
as  he  dips  beneath  the  ocean  in  a  cloudless  sky,  displays  a 
splendour  with  which  nothing  else  in  nature  can  compare; 
and  yet  in  our  eyes  his  glory  is  fairer  and  more  persuasive 
when  he  sinks  amid  clouds  which  he  bathes  through  and 
through  with  rays  of  fire, — clouds  which  linger  over  his 
resting-place,  like  the  tragic  memories  of  a  human  life,  in 
pathetic  and  fading  beauty,  to  tell  us  what  he  was  and  is 
whom  we  no  longer  see. 

More  depressing  still  is  spiritual  trouble,  such  as 
some  of  the  best  Christians  have  known,  when  Gods 

1  Heb.  ii.  10;  v.  S,  9. 


34§ 


The  Cure  of  Low  Spirits.  [Serm. 


face  is  hidden  from  the  soul;  when  there  seems  to 
be  no  light  in  the  understanding,  no  warmth  in  the 
heart,  no  vigour  in  the  will;  when  the  habit  of  prayer 
is  maintained,  if  it  is  still  maintained,  as  a  mechanical 
effort;  when  religious  language  is  still  used,  but  as  a 
talisman  which  has  lost  its  force;  when  everything  seems 
hollow,  unreal,  cold,  and  dead.  "  Thou  didst  turn  Thy  face 
from  me,  and  I  was  troubled."  It  may  be  penal,  this  over- 
clouding of  the  heavens ;  it  may  be  that  the  service  of  God 
in  bygone  times  has  been  tainted  by  a  subtle  penetrating 
selfishness,  and  that  prayer  and  duty  have  been  valued 
more  for  the  pleasure  they  yielded  to  the  servant  than  for 
the  sake  of  that  Lord  Who  is  their  rightful  Object.  To 
teach  men  to  serve  Him  for  His  Own  Sake  He  may  well 
make  His  service  for  a  while  dreary  and  unattractive ;  the 
exile  beyond  the  Jordan  may  be  surer  of  his  motives 
than  the  Levite  rejoicing  in  the  temple  courts.  But  such 
a  visitation  may  also  have  a  very  different  meaning; 
we  remember  Who  it  was  that,  as  He  hung  dying  upon 
the  Cross,  made  those  ancient  words  His  Own,  "  My 
God,  My  God,  why  hast  Thou  forsaken  Me?"1  The 
temptations  of  a  time  of  trouble  are  obvious.  Many  a  man 
will  say  to  himself  that  his  religion  was  but  a  passing 
phase  of  feeling,  and  that  it  has  worn  itself  out;  that  the 
illusion  has  had  its  day,  and  that  he  now  sees  through  it 
in  the  light  of  experience.  And  yet  what  is  this  but  to 
mistake  an  act  of  Divine  discipline  for  a  collapse  of  truth? 
"  Why  art  thou  cast  down,  0  my  soul  ?  0  put  thy  trust 
in  God."  Cling  to  Hi's  Hand,  though  He  lead  thee 
through  the  darkness.  Say  with  an  old  servant  of  His, 
"  Though  He  slay  me,  yet  will  I  trust  in  Him."2  Give  up 
nothing  that  has  bound  thee  to  Him  or  that  has  done  Him 
service  in  former  years,  though  for  the  time  it  be  reft  of 
comfort,  or  even  of  meaning.    Who  would  cut  off  the 

1  Ps.  xxii.  i.  2  Job  xiii.  15. 


XVII.]       The  Cure  of  Low  Spirits. 


349 


limbs  of  a  man  because  they  are  numbed  by  the  frost  ? 
Depend  on  it,  in  His  good  time  He  will  not  fail  thee ;  the 
longest  night  is  followed  by  the  dawn;  He  "will  bring 
thee  forth  to  the  light,  and  thine  eyes  shall  behold  His 
Eighteousness."1 

Lastly,  there  is  the  sense  of  unforgiven  sin.  Much  more 
reasonably  than  temporal  misfortune  or  spiritual  dis- 
couragement may  this  depress  us.  To  know  that  we  are 
parted  from  the  perfect  Moral  Being,  in  union  with  Whom 
is  peace  and  joy,  by  acts  or  states  of  mind  which  He  must 
condemn,  is  most  assuredly  to  be  cast  down  and  disquieted 
if  we  think  at  all.  Sin  is  the  true,  the  deepest  secret  of  the 
gloom  of  the  soul.  Most  of  us  know  something  of  the  subtle 
temptation  to  make  moral  disease  respectable  or  interesting 
by  representing  it  to  ourselves  or  to  others  as  constitutional 
temperament  or  as  intellectual  difficulty;  some  of  us, 
perhaps,  can  drown  the  plaintive  murmur  that  is  heard 
within  by  such  boisterous  levities  as  may  last  while  health 
and  strength  permit,  till  at  last  a  wail  of  agony,  that  sounds 
in  every  recess  of  the  soul,  recalls  to  us  our  real  condition. 
In  any  case  the  words  still  hold  good,  that  "  while  I  held 
my  tongue  my  bones  consumed  away  through  my  daily 
complaining;  for  Thy  hand  is  heavy  upon  me  day  and 
night."2  And  only  when  we  have  learned  to  say,  "Try  me, 
0  Lord,  and  seek  the  ground  of  my  heart ;  prove  me,  and 
examine  my  thoughts ;  look  well  if  there  be  any  way  of 
wickedness  in  me.  and  lead  me  in  the  way  everlasting,"3  are 
we  entering  on  the  course  which  will  lift  up  and  calm  the 
soul.  If  indeed  it  could  be  otherwise,  so  that  sin  were  com- 
patible with  true  and  lasting  joy  and  peace,  the  Maker  of 
this  world  would  not  be  the  Perfect  Moral  Being  that  He 
is,  but  rather  some  evil  workman,  such  as  was  conceived 
of  old  by  Manichsean  or  Gnostic  fancy;  and  Religion, 
instead  of  being  the  friend  and  patroness  of  morality, 

1  Micah  vii.  9.  -  Ps.  xxxii.  3,  4.  a  Ps.  cxxxix.  23,  24. 


35o 


The  Cure  of  Low  Spirits. 


would  be  its  worst  foe.  And  yet  when  this  is  understood 
"Hope  in  the  Lord"  is  still  the  counsel  of  the  truest 
wisdom.  If  He  is  the  Judge,  He  is  also  the  Physician ; 
if  He  is  of  purer  eyes  than  to  behold  iniquity,  yet  He 
is  not  willing  that  any  should  perish.  "  If  we  say  that 
we  have  no  sin,  we  deceive  ourselves,  and  the  truth  is  not 
in  us ;  but  if  we  confess  our  sins,  He  is  faithful  and  just  to 
forgive  us  our  sins,  and  to  cleanse  us  from  all  unrighteous- 
ness."1 For  there  is  "a  fountain  opened  for  sin  and  for 
uncleanness,"2  and  "the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ  His  Son 
cleanseth  us  from  all  sin."3 

There  are  many  secrets  that  are  worth  knowing,  but  none 
surely  can  better  deserve  our  attention  than  the  secret  of  the 
peace  and  joy  of  the  soul.  And  there  are  many  solemn 
words  which  reveal  to  us,  in  a  sincere  use  of  them,  some 
features  of  our  real  condition ;  but  nothing,  perhaps,  tells 
us  more  truly  what  and  where  we  are  than  our  power  or 
our  difficulty  of  saying,  with  perfect  deliberation,  these 
words  of  the  General  Thanksgiving,  "  We  bless  Thee  for 
our  creation,  preservation,  and  all  the  blessings  of  this  life ; 
but  above  all  for  Thine  inestimable  love  in  the  redemption 
of  the  world  through  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  for  the  means 
of  grace,  and  for  the  hope  of  glory." 

1  i  St.  John  i.  8,  9.  2  Zech.  xiii.  1.  3  1  St.  John  i.  7. 


Afril,  1880. 

A  CLASSIFIED  CATALOGUE 
OF  BOOKS 

ftelecteu  from  tl?e  JPuMications  of 

Messrs.  RIVINGTON 

WATERLOO  PLACE,  LONDON 

MAGDALEN  STREET,  OXFORD  ;  TRINITY  STREET,  CAME  RIDGE 


Contents* 


page 

PAGE 

The  Prayer  Book  and  the 

6. 

Sermons   

5° 

Church  Service     .  . 

1 

7- 

Religious  Education    .  . 

69 

2. 

The  Holy  Scriptures  .  . 

nsif 

8. 

Allegories  and  Tales  .  . 

74 

3- 

Devotional  Works    .    .  1 

9, 92 

9- 

History  and  Eiography  . 

77 

*. 

•  37 

10. 

Poetry  and  Miscellaneous 

88 

5- 

The  Church  and  Doctrine 

42 

93 

Educational  Works— see  Rivington's  School  Catalogue. 


1.  Cfje  Iprapec  TSook  ant)  tfcc  Cburcf) 

The    Compendious    Edition    of  the 

Annotated  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  forming  a  concise  Com- 
mentary on  the  Devotional  System  of  the  Church  of  England. 
Edited  by  the  Rev.  John  Henry  Blunt,  M.A.,  F.S.A., 
Editor  of  the  "Dictionary  of  Sects  and  Heresies,"  &c.  &c. 
Crown  8vo.  iar.  6d.  ;  in  half-morocco,  i6x.  ;  or  in  morocco 
limp,  Ifs.  6d. 

[C_I7]  $2EaterIfl0  pace,  Hontorjn  a 


2 


Rivington's  Select  Catalogue 


The   Annotated  Book  of  Common 

Prayer ;  being  an  Historical,  Ritual,  and  Theological  Com- 
mentary on  the  Devotional  System  of  the  Church  of  England. 
Edited  by  the  Rev.  John  Henry  Blunt,  M.A.,  F.  S.A., 
Editor  of  the  "Dictionary  of  Sects  and  Heresies,"  &c,  &c. 
Seventh  Edition.  Imperial  8vo.  36^. ;  or  in  half-morocco,  48^. 

[This  large  edition  contains  the  Latin  and  Greek  originals,  together  with 
technical  Ritual  Annotations,  Marginal  References,  &c,  which  are  necessarily 
omitted  for  want  of  room  in  the  "  Compendious  Edition."] 

"  Whether  as,  historically,  shewing  best  liturgical  and  historical  authori- 

how  the  Prayer  Book  came  to  be  what  ties  ancient  a?id  modern  {of  which  a 

it  is,  or,  ritually,  how  it  designs  itself  formidable    list    is  prefixed  to  the 

to  be  rendered  from  word  into  act,  or,  work)  is  quoted,  or  referred  to,  or 

theologically,  as  exhibiting  the  relation  compressed  into  the  notes  illustrative 

between  doctrine  and  worship  on  which  of  the  several  subjects. " — John  Bull. 

it  is  framed,  the  book  amasses  a  world  "  The  book  is  a  mine  of  information 

of  information  carefully  digested,  and  and  research — able  to  give  an  answer 

errs  commonly,  if  at  all,  on  the  side  almost  on  anything  we  wish  to  know 

of  excess." — Guardian,  about  our  present  Prayer  Book,  its 

"  The  most  complete  and  compendious  antecedents  and  originals —and  ought 

Commentary  on  the  English  Prayer  to  be  in  the  library  of  every  intelligent 

Book  ever  yet  published.   Almost  every-  Churchman.    Nothing  like  it  has  as 

thi?ig  that  has  been  written  by  all  the  yet  been  seen." — Church  Review. 

Liber  Precnm  Publicamm  Ecclesiae 

Anglicanae.  A  Gulielmo  Bright,  S.T.P.,  ^Edis  Christi 
apud  Oxon.  Canonico,  et  Petro  Goldsmith  Medd,  A.M., 
Collegii  Universitatis  apud  Oxon.  Socio  Seniore,  Latine 
redditus.  Editio  tertia,  cum  Appendice.  [In  hac  editione 
continentur  Versiones  Latinae — 1.  Libri  Precum  Publicarum 
Ecclesiae  Anglicanae  ;  2.  Liturgiae  Primae  Reformatae  ;  3.  Litur- 
giae  Scoticanae ;  4.  Liturgiae  Americanae.]  With  Rubrics  in 
Red.    Small  8vo.    7s.  6d. 

The  First  Book  of  Common  Prayer  of 

Edward  VI.  and  the  Ordinal  of  1549.  Together  with  the 
Order  of  the  Communion,  1548.  Reprinted  entire.  Edited  by 
the  Rev.  Henry  Baskerville  Walton,  M.A.,  late  Fellow 
and  Tutor  of  Merton  College ;  with  Introduction  by  the  Rev. 
Peter  Goldsmith  Medd,  M.A.,  Rector  of  North  Cerney  ; 
Hon.  Canon  of  St.  Albans ;  late  Senior  Fellow  of  University 
College,  Oxford;  and  Rector  of  Barnes.    Small  8vo.  6s. 


Waterloo  place,  iLontfott 


Prayer  Book  and  Church  Service 


5 


The  Prayer  Book  Interleaved;  with 

Historical  Illustrations  and  Explanatory  Notes  arranged 
parallel  to  the  Text.  By  W.  M.  Campion,  D.D.,  and 
W.  J.  Beamont,  M.A.  With,  a  Preface  by  the  Lord  Bishop 
of  Winchester.    Tenth  Edition.    Small  8vo.    Js.  6d. 

"An  excellent  publication,  combin-  "  The  work  may  be  com  mended  as  a 

ing  a  portable  Prayer  Book  with  tlie  very  convenient  manual  for  all  who 

history  of  the  text  and  explanatory  are  interested  to  some  extent  in  liturgi- 

notes." — Spectator.  cal studies,  but  who  have  not  time  or 

"  This  book  is  of  the  greatest  use  for  the  means  for  original  research.  It 

spreading  an.  intelligent  knowledge  of  zuould  also  be  most  useful  to  examining 

lite  English  Prayer  Book,  and  we  chaplains." — Church  Times. 
heartily  wish  it  a  large  and  continuous 
circulation. " — Church  Review. 

The  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  and 

Administration  of  the  Sacraments  and  other  Rites  and  Cere- 
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A  Book  of  Litanies,  Metrical  and  Prose. 

With  an  Evening  Service.  Edited  by  the  Compiler  of 
"The  Treasury  of  Devotion."  And  accompanying  Music 
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A  Key  to  the  Knowledge  and  Use  of 

the  Book  of  Common  Prayer.  By  the  Rev.  John  Henry 
Blunt,  M.A.,  F.S.A.,  Editor  of  the  "Annotated  Book  of 
Common  Prayer,"  &c.  New  Edition.  Small  8vo.  2s.  6d. 
Also  a  Cheap  Edition,  is.  6d. 

Forming  a  Volume  of  "  Keys  to  Christian  Knowledge." 

' '  Impossible  to  praise  too  highly.  It  information  seems  to  be  included,  and 
is  the  best  short  explanation  of  our  the  arrangement  is  excellent." — Liter- 
offices  that  we  know  of,  and  would  be    ary  Churchman. 

invaluable  for  the  use  of candidates  for  "A  very  valuable  and  practical 
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John  Bull.  serves  high  commendation." — Church- 

"  To  us  it  appears  that  Mr.  Blunt  man. 
has  succeeded  very  well.   A 11  necessary 

Sacraments  and  Sacramental  Ordi- 
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History,  Meaning,  and  Effects.  By  the  Rev.  John  Henry 
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A  Commentary,  Expository  and  De- 
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Supper,  according  to  the  Use  of  the  Church  of  England ;  to 
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Prayer  Book  and  Church  Service  5 


The  Priest  to  the  Altar;  or,  Aids  to 

the  Devout  Celebration  of  Holy  Communion,  chiefly  after  the 
Ancient  English  Use  of  Sarum.  Third  Edition,  revised  and 
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Notitia  Eucharistica ;    a  Commentary, 

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and  formerly  Fellow  of  St.  John's  College,  Cambridge.  Second 
Edition,  revised  and  enlarged.    8vo.  32^. 

The  Athanasian  Origin  of  the  Athan- 

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8vo.    54-r.  6d. 

The  Volumes  are  sold  separately,  as  follows  : — 

Vol.  1,  Part  I.— The  Three  first  Gospels.  12s. 
Vol.  1,  Part  II.— St.  John  and  the  Acts.    10s.  6d. 
Vol.  2,  Part  I.— The  Epistles  of  St.  Paul.  16s. 
Vol.  2,  Part  II. — Hebrews  to  Revelation.  i6j. 


ant)  at  ©ifcirtj  anfc  £ambtfrQ£ 


8  Rivington's  Select  Catalogue 


The  Holy  Bible;  with  Notes  and  Intro- 
ductions. By  Chr.  Wordsworth,  D.D.,  Bishop  of  Lincoln. 
New  Edition.    6  Vols.    Imperial  8vo.  I20J. 

The  Volumes  are  sold  separately,  as  follows  : — 
Vol.      I.— The  Pentateuch.  25* 

Vol.  II. — Joshua  to  Samuel.    1 5^. 

Vol.  III.— Kings  to  Esther.  15*. 

Vol.  IV. — Job  to  Song  of  Solomon.  2$s. 

Vol.  V. — Isaiah  to  Ezekiel.  2$s. 

Vol.  VI. — Daniel,  Minor  Prophets,  and  Index.  i$s. 

The  New  Testament  of  our  Lord  and 

Saviour  Jesus  Christ,  in  the  original  Greek;  with  Notes,  Intro- 
ductions, and  Indices.  By  Chr.  Wordsworth,  D.D.,  Bishop 
of  Lincoln.    New  Edition.    2  Vols.    Imperial  8vo.  60s. 

The  Volumes  are  sold  separately,  as  follows  : — 

Vol.  I. — Gospels  and  Acts.  23J. 

Vol.  II. — Epistles,  Apocalypse,  and  Index.  37^ 


Notes  on  the  Greek  Testament.  The 

Gospel  according  to  S.  Luke.  By  the  Rev.  Arthur  Carr, 
M.A.,  Assistant-Master  at  Wellington  College,  late  Fellow  of 
Oriel  College,  Oxford.    Crown  8vo.  6s. 

"It  is  a  most  useful  and  scholarly  historical  and  archceological  inform  a- 

ivork,  well  adapted  to  the  higlier  classes  Hon  is  supplied  plentifully  when  need- 

of  public  schools  and  the  students  at  ful  to  illustrate  a  passage  ;  the  drift  of 

our  colleges." — Standard.  a  narrative  or  discourse  and  t/te  se- 

"  The  notes  are  brief,  scholarly,  and  quence  of  t/te  t/wughts  is  traced  out  and 

based  on  the  best  authorities.    .    .    .  carefully  analysed ;    in    short,  the 

The  introduction  will  be  found  to  be  of  Gospel  is  treated  as  we  treat  a  classical 

especial  value  to  the  young  student,  in-  author,  and  the  student  is  here  supplied 

forming  him,  as  it  does,  of  the  Greek  with  an  apparatus  criticus  superior  in 

manuscripts  whichform  the  basis  of  t/te  kind  a?id  completeness  to  any  we  have 

Greek  text,  and  giving  a  most  thorotigh  ever  seen  afforded  to  him  for  the  pur- 

and   comprehensive    account    of    S.  pose  elsewhere.   A  very  clever  and  tak- 

Luke's  life  and  the  style  of  his  writ-  iug  book." — Literary  Churchman. 
ing."— School  Board  Chronicle.  "Admirably  adapted  for  the  use  of 

"  Grammatical   peculiarities    are  those  who  begin  the  study  of  the  New 

brought  into  the  foreground,  and  co?i-  Testament  in  the  original  after  having 

trasted  with  classical  usages ;  questions  acquired  a  fair  acquaintance  with 

of  various  reading  are  carefully  noted;  classical  Greek." — Scotsman. 


Waterloo  piac*,  Honooti 


The  Holy  Scriptures 


9 


The  Annotated  Bible,  being  a  House- 
hold Commentary  upon  the  Holy  Scriptures,  comprehending 
the  Results  of  Modern  Discovery  and  Criticism.    By  the  Rev. 
John  Henry  Blunt,  M.A.,  F.S.A.,  Editor  of  44  The  Anno- 
tated Book  of  Common  Prayer,''  44 The  Dictionary  of  Theo- 
logy," etc.  etc.    Three  Vols.    Demy  4to,  with  Maps,  etc. 
Vol.  I.  (66S  pages.)— Containing  the  GENERAL  INTRO- 
DUCTION, with  Text  and  Annotations  on  the  Books 
from  GENESIS  to  ESTHER.  6 J. 

Vol.  n.  (720  pages.)— Completing  the  OLD  TESTAMENT 
and  APOCRYPHA.    31*  6d. 

This  Work  has  been  written  with  the  object  of  providing  for  educated  readers 
a  compact  intellectual  exposition  of  the  Holy  Bible,  in  which  they  may  find  such 
explanations  and  illustrations  of  the  Sacred  Books  as  will  meet  the  necessities  of 
the  ordinary,  as  distinguished  from  the  laboriously  learned,  inquirer  of  the  present 
day.  Great  care  has  been  taken  to  compress  as  much  information  as  possible  into 
the  Annotations  by  condensed  language,  by  giving  the  results  of  inquiry  without 
adding  the  detailed  reasonings  by  which  those  results  have  been  arrived  at.  by 
occupying  scarcely  any  space  with  controversy,  and  by  casting  much  matter  into 
a  tabular  form. 

Every  book  has  an  Introduction  prefixed  to  it,  which  gives  some  account  of  its 
authorship,  date,  contents,  object,  and  such  other  particulars  as  will  put  the 
reader  in  possession  of  the  best  modern  conclusions  on  these  subjects.  The 
Annotations  are  also  illustrated  by  text  maps  and  other  engravings  when  neces- 
sary, and  full-page  coloured  maps  are  added  for  the  general  illustration  of  Bibli- 
cal Geography  from  the  best  authorities. 

The  Commentary  is  preceded  by  a  General  Introduction,  which  contains  chap- 
ters on  the  Literary  History  of  the  Bible  (illustrated  by  engraved  facsimiles,  and 
by  specimens  of  English  Bibles  from  the  tenth  to  the  seventeenth  centuries),  on 
the  trustworthiness  of  the  Bible  in  its  existing  form,  the  revelation  and  inspiration 
of  Holy  Scripture,  the  interpretation  of  Holy  Scripture,  and  the  liturgical  use  of 
the  Bible.  There  are  also  special  Introductions  to  the  New  Testament  and  the 
Apocrypha. 

"  We  do  not  know  any  one  publi-  tion  to  each  book,  and  in  the  notes , 
cation  in  which  the  great  mass  of  facts  which  are  more  extensive  l/ian  the 
relating  to  the  language,  the  trans-  sacred  text,  the  Bible  is  treated  as  a 
cription,  the  versions,  and  the  extant  literary  book  o?i  its  human  side,  and 
copies  of  the  Bible  is  contained  in  a  as  a  completely  inspired  autJiority  on 
form  at  once  so  comprehe?isive ,  so  brief  its  Divine  side.  Criticism,  exegetics, 
and  succinct,  and  so  pleasant  to  peruse,  and  dogmatics,  meet  in  a  more  Jiar- 
.  .  .  The  annotation  all  through  is  monious  unity  than  we /tave yet  seen  in 
iust  what  it  should  be,  brief,  sug-  the  work  of  any  one  autlior  on  Scrip- 
gestive,  and  clear"' — Church  Qvar-  ture." — Edinburgh  Daily  Review, 
terly  Review.  "  The  work,  to  tokichdke  Editor  must 

"  Only  those  who  have  made  a  reg-  have  devoted  immense  zeal  and  labour, 
ular  study  of  the  subject  can  even  promises  to  be,  wfen  completed,  a  val- 
guess  wJiat  a  quantity  of  reading  uable  addition  to  Biblical  literature." 
has  been  necessary  to  put  before  tJie  — Manchester  Examiner. 
reader  the  results  here  set  down." —  " We  are  sure this1 Annotated Bible' 
Church  Times.  will  be  rapidly  recognised  as  a  very 

"Alike  in  the  critical  introduction  important  and  valuable  aid  for  Bible 
of  eighty  pages,    in    tlie    introduc-    readers." — Church  Review. 


anrj  at  ©ifortj  arrti  Cambridge 


IO 


Rivington's  Select  Catalogue 


An  Introduction  to  the  Devotional 

Study  of  the  Holy  Scriptures :  with  a  Prefatory  Essay  on  their 
Inspiration,  and  specimens  of  Meditations  on  various  passages 
of  them.  By  Edward  Meyrick  Goulburn,  D.D.,  Dean  of 
Norwich.  Tenth  Edition,  revised  and  enlarged.  Small  8vo. 
6s.  6d. 


"  The  value  of  this  work  is  too  well 
known  to  need  any  notice  on  our part. 
The  sale  of  nine  large  editions  is  suf- 
ficient evidence  of  its  appreciation,  hi 
this,  the  tenth  edition,  the  author  has 
added  an  essay  on  the  Inspiration  of 
Scripture,  and  appended  some  medita- 
tions originally  printed  in  a  detached 
form.  By  so  doing  he  has  added  to  the 
completeness,  and  therefore  to  the  value 
of  the  volume.  It  is  strictly  of  a  de- 
votional character,  though  in  saying 
this  we  would  not  imply  that  the  intel- 
lectual element  was  at  all  wanted.  In 
its  present  form  it  will  be  welcomed  by 
the  devout  members  of  the  Church, 
and  will  assist  in  the  devotional  study 
of  the  Word  of  God" — John  Bull. 


"  WJien  a  book  has  reached  its  te7ith 
edition  little  can  be  said  in  favour  of  its 
usefulness.  It  has  proved  its  value  by 
its  popularity.  This  is  the  case  with  this 
volume  of  Dean  Goulburn' s.  Still  there 
will  be  many  who  have  not  yet  made 
personal  use  of  it,  and  to  such  we  can 
heartily  recommend  this  new  edition. 
Previous  to  this  issue,  the  whole  work 
has  been  thoroughly  reconsidered  and 
revised,  the  essay  on  Inspiration  re- 
written, and  a  series  of  Meditations 
added.  The  whole  forms  a  most 
desirable  companion  for  all  who  seek 
to  attain  to  a  greater  knowledge  of  the 
inner  and  spiritual  teaching  of  Holy 
Writ."— National  Church. 


The  Microscope  of  the  "New  Testament. 

By  the  late  Rev.  William  Sewell,  D.D.,  formerly  Fellow 
of  Exeter  College,  sometime  Professor  of  Moral  Philosophy  in 
the  University  of  Oxford,  and  Whitehall  Preacher.  Edited  by 
the  Rev.  W.  J.  Crichton,  M.A.    8vo.  14^. 


"  The  style  of  the  book,  in  which  the 
results  of  the  most  scholarly  investiga- 
tions are  set  Jorth  in  comparatively 
popular  language,  ought  to  recommend 
it  not  otily  to  the  systematic  Biblical 
student,  but  to  the  general  reader 
whose  mind  is  capable  of  being  attracted 
by  an  earnest  treatment  of  the  grandest 
subject  to  which  the  human  intellect 
can  lead  itself."  —  Manchester 
Courier. 

"  Will  be  a  work  of  deep  interest  to 
reverent  investigators  of  the  Greek  of 
the  sacred  caiion.  .  .  .  Much  light  is 
thrown  on  various  coiitroverted  pas- 
sages of  the  New  Testament,  many 


difficulties  are  removed,  and  many 
obscure  passages  fully  elucidated.  We 
may  instance  as  truly  valuable  addi- 
tions to  Biblical  criticism  the  essays  on 
"  The  Accounts  of  the  Resurrection," 
and  "  The  Last  Scenes  of  our  Lord's 
Life."  Indeed,  all  earnest  Biblical 
scholars  will  do  well  to  procure  this 
volume,  and  make  it  for  a  time  their 
constant  companion.  We  venture  to 
think  that  when  it  has  been  so  used,  it 
will  for  the  future  be  kept  within  easy 
reach  for  constant  reference.  It  takes 
a  laborious  lifetime  to  produce  such 
results  as  these." — National  Church. 


Waterloo  $la«,  Honoon 


The  Holy  Scriptures  n 


Analytical   K"otes  on    Obadiah  and 

Habakuk,  for  the  use  of  Hebrew  Students.  By  the  Rev. 
William  Randolph,  M.A.,  of  St.  John's  College,  Cam- 
bridge.   8vo.   5^.  6</. 

"  Slunu  a  thoughtful  study  of  the  origifial,  show  him  to  be  a  laborious 

original,   without  the  advantage  of  and  conscientious  worker." — Irish  Ec- 

viany  moder?i  appliances." — Academy,  clesiastical  Gazette. 

"Mr.  Randolph  is  filling  up  a  "This  is  intended  for  the  use  of 
serious  gap  in  exegetical  literature,  Hebrew  students,  who  will  find  here 
and  has  attempted  to  do  for  individual  valuable  help  in  mastering  the  subtle 
parts  of  the  Hebrew  Testament  what  niceties  of  diction,  the  emphatic  forms, 
Ellicott,  Lightfoot,  and  others  are  and  the  artificial  arrangement  of  sen- 
doing  for  portions  of  the  Greek  Testa-  tences,  so  characteristic  of  the  original, 
meut.  lVe  are  glad  to  see  he  promises,  The  accuracy  of  its  Hebrew  scholar- 
if  encouraged,  to  follow  this  volume  up  ship,  a?id  its  clear  insight  into  the  most 
' by  others  of  a  similar  character.'  abstruse  difficulties  of  t/ie  language 
Mr.  Randolph's  accurate  distinctions  made  use  of  by  this  prophetical  writer, 
of  Hebrew  words,  and  the  pains  he  is  render  the  work  invaluable  even  to  the 
at  to  convey  the  true  meaning  of  the  scholar." — National  Church. 


The  Psalms.    Translated  from  the  Hebrew. 

With  Notes,  chiefly  Exegetical.    By  William  Kay,  D.D., 

Rector  of  Great  Leghs,  late  Principal  of  Bishop's  College, 

Calcutta.    Third  Edition.    8vo.    \2s.  6d. 

"  Like  a  sound  Churchman,    he  make  use  of  it." — British  Quarterly 

reverences    Scripture,   upholding   its  Review. 

authority  against  sceptics;  and   he  "T/te  execution  of the  work  is  careful 

does  not  denounce  such  as  differ  from  and  sc/iolarly." — Union  Review. 

him  in  opinion  with  a  dogmatism  un-  "  To  mention  the  name  of  Dr.  Kay 

happily  too  common  at  the  present  day.  is  enough  to  secure  respectful  attention 

He?ice,  readers  will  be  disposed  to  con-  to  his  ?iew  translation  of  tJie  Psalms, 

sider  his  co?iclusions  worthy  of  atten-  It  is  enriched  with  exegetical  notes 

Hon  ;  or  perhaps  to  adopt  tliem  wit/iout  containing  a  wealth  of  sound  learning, 

inquiry.  1 't  is  superfluous  to  say  that  closely  occasionally ,  perhaps  too  closely 

tlie   translation  is  better  and  more  condensed.    Good  care  is  taken  of  the 

accurate  on  the  wlwle  than  our  received  student  not  learned  in  Hebrew;  we 

one,  or  that  it  often  reproduces  the  sense  Iwpe  the  Doctors  example  will  prevent 

of  tJie  original  happily." — Athenaeum,  any  abuse  of  this  consideration,  and 

"  Dr.  Kay  has  profowui  reverence  stimidate  tltose   w/io  profit  by  it  to 

for  Divine  truth,  and  exhibits  con-  follcnu  him  into  the  very  text  of  the 

siderable  readi7ig,  with  tlie  pozver  to  ancient  Revelation." — John  Bull. 

Ecclesiastes  :  the  Authorized  Version,  with 

a  running  Commentary  and  Paraphrase.  By  the  Rev.  Thos. 
Pelham  Dale,  M.A.,  Rector  of  St.  Vedast  with  St.  Michael 
City  of  London,  and  late  Fellow  of  Sidney  Sussex  College, 
Cambridge.    8vo.    Js.  6d. 


atrtj  at  ©itorti  anto  (Eamfctfose 


i2  Rivington's  Select  Catalogue 


Kuling  Ideas  in  Early  Ages  and  their 

Relation  to  Old  Testament  Faith.     Lectures  delivered  to 
Graduates  of  the  University  of  Oxford.  By  J.  B.  Mozley,  D.D. , 
late  Canon  of  Christ  Church,  and  Regius  Professor  of  Divinity 
in  the  University  of  Oxford.    Second  Edition.    8vo.    10s.  6d. 
"Has  all  the  same  marks  of  a       "  One  of the  most  remarkable  books 
powerful  and  original  mind  which    in  the  department  of  theology  that  has 
we  observed  in  the  volume  of  Univer-   appeared  in  the  present  generation, 
sity  Sermons.  Indeed,  as  a  continuous   Dr.  Mozley  has  won  a  place  i?i  the 
study  of  the  rudimentary  conditions  of  foremost  rank  of  t  eligious philosophers, 
human   thought,  even  as    developed   .  .  .  ft  is  a  bold  but  successful  attempt 
under  the  immediate  guidance  of  a    to  explain  the  peculiar morality  recog- 
Divine  Teacher,  this  volume  has  a    nised  in  certain  transactions  of  the 
higher  intellectual  interest  tha?i  the    Old  Testament  upon  rational  grounds, 
last. " — Spectator.  For  the  first  time  in  our  experience  we 

"  Canon  Mozley' s  volume  must  have  viet  with  a  satisfactory  solution 
undeniably,  we  think,  stand  in  the  of  what  all  students  of  the  Bible  have 
very  front  rank  for  its  combination  felt  to  be  a  most  difficult  problem.  .  .  . 
of  philosophic  breadth  and  depth  of  We  commend  Dr.  Mozley  s  work  as 
insight,  with  a  thoroughly  reverent  one  which  will  acconiplish  in  our  day 
treatment  of  its  subject.  .  .  .  Treated  what  Bishop  Butler's  did in  his.  It  is 
with  great  ability,  and  with  much  one  which  should  be  read  and  studied 
richness  of  illustration.  .  .  .  They  are  by  everybody."  —  Churchman  (New 
e7itirely  worthy  of  those  on  which  we  York). 
have  commented." — Guardian. 


A  Companion  to  the  Old  Testament; 

being  a  Plain  Commentary  on  Scripture  History,  down  to  the 
Birth  of  our  Lord.    Small  8vo.    3^.  6d. 


"  A  very  compact  summary  of  the 
Old  Testament  ?iarrative,put  together 
so  as  to  explain  the  co?mection  and 
bearing  of  its  contents,  and  written  in 
a  very  good  tone  ;  with  a  final  chapter 
on  the  history  of  the  Jews  between  the 
Old  and  New  Testaments.  It  will  be 
found  very  useful  for  its  purpose.  It 
does  not  confjie  itself  to  merely  chrono- 
logical difficulties,  but  comments  briefly 
upon  the  religious  bearing  of  the  text 
also. " — Guardian. 

"A  most  admirable  Companion  to 
the  Old  Testament,  being  far  the  most 
concise  yet  complete  commentary  on 


This  will  be  found  a  very  valuable 
aid  to  the  right  understanding  of  the 
Bible.  It  throws  the  whole  Scripture 
narrative  into  one  from  the  creation 
downwards,  the  author  thus  condensing 
Prideaux,  Shuckford,  and  Russell, 
and  in  the  most  reverential  manner 
bringing  to  his  aid  the  writings  of  all 
modern  annotators  and  chronologists. 
The  book  is  one  that  should  have  a 
wide  circulation  amongst  teachers 
and  students  of  all  denominations." — 
Bookseller. 

"  The  handbook  before  us  is  so  full 
and  satisfactory,  considering  its  corn- 


Old  Testament  history  with  which  we  pass,  and  sets  forth  the  history  of  the 
have  met.  Here  are  combined  ortho-  old  cove?iant  with  such  conscientious 
doxy  and  learfiing,  an  intelligent  and   minuteness,  that  it  cannot  fail  to  prove 


at  the  same  time  interesting  summary 
of  the  leading facts  of  the  sacred  story. 
It  should  be  a  text-book  in  every  school, 
and  its  value  is  immensely  enhanced 
by  the  copious  and  complete  index." — 
John  Bull. 


a  godsend  to  candidates  for  examina- 
tion in  the  Rudimenta  Religionis  as 
well  as  in  the  corresponding  school  at 
Cambridge." — English  Churchman. 


TOatetloo  Place,  ILonton 


The  Holy  Scriptures 


*3 


A  Key  to  the  Narrative  of  the  Four 

Gospels.  By  the  Rev.  John  Pilkington  Norris,  B.D., 
Canon  of  Bristol,  Vicar  of  St.  Mary  Redcliffe,  and  Examining 
Chaplain  to  the  Bishop  of  ^k^nchester.  New  Edition.  Small 
8vo.    2s.  6d.    Also  a  Cheap  Edition,  is.  6d. 

Forming  a  Volume  of  "  Keys  to  Christian  Knowledge." 


"  This  is  very  much  the  best  book  of 
its  kind  we  liave  seen.  The  only  fault 
is  its  shortness,  which  prez'ents  its  going 
into  the  details  which  would  support 
and  illustrate  its  statements.  It  is, 
however,  a  great  improvement  upon 
any  book  of  its  kind  we  know.  It  bears 
all  the  marks  of  being  the  condensed 
work  of  a  real  scholar,  and  of  a  divine 
too.  The  bulk  of  the  book  is  taken  up 
with  a  '  Life  of  Christ,'  compiled from 
the  Four  Gospels,  so  as  to  exhibit  its 
steps  and  stages  and  salient  points." — 
Literary  Churchman. 

**  This  book  is  no  ordinary  compen- 
dium, no  mere  '■cram-book;'  still  less 
is  it  an  ordinary  reading-book  for 
schools;  but  the  schoolmaster,  the 
Sunday-school  teacher,  and  tlie  seeker 
after  a  cotnprehensive  knowledge  of 
Divine  truth  will  find  it  worthy  of  its 
name.  Canon  Norris  writes  simply, 
reverently,  without  great  display  of 
learning,  giving  the  result  of  much 
careful  study  in  a  short  compass,  and 


adorning  the  subject  by  the  tenderness 
and  honesty  with  which  he  treats  it. 
We  hope  that  this  little  book  will  have 
a  very  wide  circulation,  and  that  it 
will  be  studied ;  and  we  ca?i  promise 
tJiat  those  who  take  it  up  will  not 
readily  put  it  down  again." — Record. 
"  This  is  a  golden  little  volume. 
.  .  Its  design  is  exceedingly  mo- 
dest. Canon  Norris  writes  primarily 
to  help  ' younger  students'  in  studytng 
tJie  Gospels.  But  this  unpretetiding 
volume  is  one  which  all  students  may 
study  with  advantage.  It  is  an  ad- 
mirable manual  for  those  who  take 
Bible  Classes  through  the  Gospels. 
Closely  sifted  in  style,  so  that  all  is 
clear  and  weighty  ;  full  of  unostenta- 
tious learning,  and  pregnant  with 
suggestion;  deeply  reverent  and  al- 
together Evangelical  in  spirit ;  Canon 
Norris' s  book  supplies  a  real  want,  and 
ought  to  be  welcomedby  all  earnest  and 
devout  students  of  the  Holy  Gospels." 
— London  Quarterly  Reyiew. 


A  Key  to  the  Narrative  of  the  Acts  of 

the  Apostles.  By  the  Rev.  John  Pilkington  Norris,  B.D., 
Canon  of  Bristol,  Vicar  of  St.  Mary  Redcliffe,  and  Examining 
Chaplain  to  the  Bishop  of  Manchester.  New  Edition.  Small 
8vo.  2s.  6d.    Also  a  Cheap  Edition,  is.  6d. 

Forming  a  Volume  of  "  Keys  to  Christian  Knowledge." 

"  The  book  is  one  which  we  can  become  a  general  favourite.  The 

heartily  recommend."— -Spectator.  sketch  of  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  is 

"Few  books  have  ever  given  us  done  in  the  same  style;  there  is  the 

more  unmixed  pleasure  than  this." —  same  reverent  spirit  and  quiet  en- 

Literary  Churchman.  thusiasm  running  through  it,  and  the 

"  This  is  a  sequel  to  Canon  Norris  s  same  instinct  for  seizing  the  leading 

*  Key  to  the  Gospels,'  which  was  pub-  points  in  the  narrative."— Record. 
lis  he  d  two  years  ago,  and  which  has 


anfc  at  ©iforb  anto  Cambrfoge 


i4  Rivington's  Select  Catalogue 


A  Devotional  Commentary  on  the 

Gospel  Narrative.  By  the  Rev.  Isaac  Williams,  B.D., 
formerly  Fellow  of  Trinity  College,  Oxford.  New  Edition. 
8  Vols.  Crown  8vo.  $s.  each.  Sold  separately.  Or  the 
Eight  Volumes  may  be  had  in  a  Box,  4.5s. 

THOUGHTS  ON  THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HOLY  GOSPELS. 

Characteristic  Differences  in  the  Four  Gospels — Our  Lord's  Manifestations  of 
Himself— The  Rule  of  Scriptural  Interpretation  furnished  by  our  Lord — 
Analogies  of  the  Gospel — Mention  of  Angels  in  the  Gospels — Places  of  our 
Lord's  Abode  and  Ministry — Our  Lord's  mode  of  dealing  with  His 
Apostles  —Conclusion. 

A  HARMONY  OF  THE  FOUR  EVANGELISTS. 

Our  Lord's  Nativity— Our  Lord's  Ministry  (second  year)— Our  Lord's  Ministry 
(third  year) — The  Holy  Week — Our  Lord's  Passion — Our  Lord's  Resur- 
rection. 

OUR  LORD'S  NATIVITY. 

The  Birth  at  Bethlehem— The  Baptism  in  Jordan— The  First  Passover. 

OUR  LORD'S  MINISTRY  (Second  Year). 

The  Second  Passover— Christ  with  the  Twelve— The  Twelve  sent  forth. 

OUR  LORD'S  MINIS TR  Y  (Third  Year). 

Teaching  in  Galilee — Teaching  at  Jerusalem — Last  Journey  from  Galilee  to 
Jerusalem. 

THE  HOLY  WEEK. 

The  Approach  to  Jerusalem — The  Teaching  In  the  Temple — The  Discourse  on 
the  Mount  of  Olives — The  Last  Supper. 

OUR  LORD'S  PASSION. 

The  Hour  of  Darkness— The  Agony— The  Apprehension— The  Condemnation— 
The  Day  of  Sorrows — The  Hall  of  Judgment— The  Crucifixion— The 
Sepulture. 

OUR  LORD'S  RESURRECTION. 

The  Day  of  Days — The  Grave  Visited — Christ  appearing — The  going  to 
Emmaus — The  Forty  Days — The  Apostles  assembled — The  Lake  of 
Galilee — The  Mountain  in  Galilee— The  Return  from  Galilee. 

"  There  is  not  a  better  companion  to  Scripture  from  the  writings  of  the 
be  found  for  the  season  than  the  beau-  early  Fathers,  it  is  only  what  every 
tiful  '  Devotional  Commentary  on  the  student  knows  must  be  true  to  say,  that 
Gospel  Narrative,'  by  the  Rev.  Isaac  it  extracts  a  whole  wealth  of  meaning 
Williams.  A  rich  mine  for  devotional  from  each  sentence,  each  apparently 
and  theological  study." — Guardian.       faint  allusion,  each  word  in  the  text" 

"So  infinite  are  the  deptJis  and  so  — Church  Review. 
innumerable  the  beauties  of  Scripture,  "Stands  absolutely  alone  in  our 
and  7tiore  particularly  of  the  Gospels,  English  literature  ;  there  is,  we  should 
that  there  is  some  difficulty  in  de-  say,  no  chance  of  its  being  superseded 
scribing  the  manifold  excellences  of  by  any  better  book  of  its  kind;  and  its 
Williams'  exquisite  Commentary.  De-  merits  are  of  the  very  highest  order. " 
riving  its  profound  appreciation  of  —Literary  Churchman. 


OTatftl00  place,  SLonoon 


The  Holy  Scriptures 


«5 


WILLIAMS'  DEVOTIONAL  COMMENTARY—  Continued. 

"  This  is.  in  the  truest  sense  of  the       "It  would  be  difficult  to  select  a  more 

word,  a  * Devotional  Commentary'  on  useful  present,  at  a  small  cost,  t/ian 

the  Gospel  narrative,  opening  out  every-  this  series  would  be  to  a  young  man  on 

where,  as  it  does,  the  spiritual  beauties  his  first  entering  into  Holy  Orders,  and 

and  blessedness  of  the  Divitie  message  ;  many,  no  doubt,  will  avail  themselves 

but  it  is  something  more  Uian  this,  it  of  the  republication  of  these  useful 

meets  difficulties  almost  by  anticipa-  volumes  for  l/iis  purpose.  T lure  is  an 

tion,  and  throws  the  light  of  learning  abundance  of  sermon  material  to  be 

over  some  of  the  very  darkest  passages  drawn   from   a?iy  one   of  t/iern."  — 

in  the  Xew  Testament."— Rock.  Church  Times. 

Female  Characters  of  Holy  Scripture. 

A  Series  of  Sermons.  By  the  Rev.  Isaac  Williams, 
B.D.,  formerly  Fellow  of  Trinity  College,  Oxford.  New 
Edition.    Crown  8vo.  5-f. 

COXTEXTS. 

Eve — Sarah — Lot's  Wife — Rebekah— Leah  and  Rachel— Miriam— Rahab — De- 
borah— Ruth— Hannah — The  Witch  of  Endor — Eathsheba — Rizpah — The 
Queen  of  Sheba — The  Widow  of  Zarephath — Jezebel — The  Shunammite 
— Esther  —  Elizabeth — Anna  —  The  Woman  of"  Samaria — Joanna  —  The 
Woman  with  the  Issue  of  Blood — The  Woman  of  Canaan — Martha — Mary 
—Salome— The  Wife  of  Pilate— Dorcas— The  Blessed  Virgin. 

The  Characters  of  the  Old  Testament. 

A  Series  of  Sermons.  By  the  Rev.  Isaac  Williams,  B.D., 
formerly  Fellow  of  Trinity  College,  Oxford.  New  Edition. 
Crown  8vo.  $s. 

CONTEXTS. 

Adam — Abel  and  Cain  —  Noah — Abraham  —  Lot — Jacob  and  Esau — Joseph — 
Moses — Aaron  —  Pharaoh — Korah,  Dathan,  and  Abiram  —  Balaam- 
Joshua —  Samson  —  Samuel  — Saul — David  —  Solomon  —  Elijah — Ahab — 
Elisha  —  Hezekiah  — Josiah  — Jeremiah  —  Ezekiel  — Daniel  — Joel — Job — 
Isaiah — The  Antichrist. 

The  Apocalypse.  With  Notes  and  Re- 
flections. By  the  Rev  Isaac  Williams,  B.D.,  formerly 
Fellow  of  Trinity  College,  Oxford.  New  Edition.  Crown 
8vo.  5.-. 

Begimiing  of  the  Book  of  Genesis, 

with  Notes  and  Reflections.  By  the  Rev.  Isaac  Williams, 
B.D.,  formerly  Fellow  of  Trinity  College,  Oxford.  Small 
8vo.    7s.  6d. 


anti  at  ©xfortj  anti  Cambridge 


1 6  Rivington's  Select  Catalogue 


Short  Notes  on  the  Greek  Text  of 

the  Acts  of  the  Apostles.  By  J.  Hamblin  Smith,  M.A.,  of 
Gonville  and  Caius  College,  late  Lecturer  in  Classics  at  S. 
Peter's  College,  Cambridge.    Crown  Svo.    4s.  6d. 

"  This  reprint  of  ttoies  drawn  up  by  the   most   successful  commentators, 

the  editor  for  the  use  of  his  own  pupils  The  classical  and  non-classical  idioms 

twelve  years  ago,  will  be  found  most  are  carefully  explained,   the  histo- 

useful  by  all  young-  students  of  the  rical  allusions  fully  illustrated,  and 

original  text  of  the  Book  of  the  Acts,  especial  attention  is  given  to  deriva- 

Believing  that  its  author,  in  connection  tion  and  technical  scholarship,  espe- 

with  his  visit  to  Syracuse,  studied  the  cially  respecting  the  Greek  synonyms, 

accouyit  of  the  Sicilian  Expedition,  tenses,  and  particles.    The  geography 

Mr.  Smith   makes  many  refererices  and  Church  history  of  the  Acts  have 

to  Thucydides,  whose  sixth  book  has  a  considerable  attention  given  to  them, 

large  manber  of  words  and  phrases  in  and  in  no  other  work  on  the  subject 

common  with  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles."  intended  for  the  young  is  this  depart- 

—  Edinburgh  Daily  Review.  merit  of  annotation  wrought  out  so 

"  These  notes  are  the  product  of  a  fully  arid  serviceably  for  the  young." 

careful  study  of  t/ie  most  recent  arid  —School  Board  Chronicle. 

Ecclesiastes  for  English  Headers.  The 

Book  called  by  the  Jews  Koheleth.  Newly  translated,  with 
Introduction,  Analysis,  and  Notes.  By  the  Rev.  W.  H.  B. 
PR03Y,  M.A.,  formerly  Tyrwhitt  Hebrew  Scholar  in  the 
University  of  Cambridge.    8vo.    4s.  6d. 

The  Ten  Canticles  of  the  Old  Testa- 

ment  Canon,  namely,  the  Songs  of  Moses  (First  and  Second), 
Deborah,  Hannah,  Isaiah  (First,  Second,  and  Third),  Hezekiah, 
Jonah,  and  Habakkuk.  Newly  translated,  with  Notes  and 
Remarks  on  their  Drift  and  Use.  By  the  Rev.  W.  H.  B. 
Proby,  M.A.,  formerly  Tyrwhitt  Hebrew  Scholar  in  the 
University  of  Cambridge.    8vo.  $s. 

Genesis.    With  Notes.   [The  Hebrew  Text, 

with  Literal  Translation.]  By  the  Rev.  G.  V.  Garland, 
M.A.,  late  Vicar  of  Aslacton,  Norfolk.    8vo.    21  j. 

The  Acts  of  the  Deacons;   being  a 

Commentary,  Critical  and  Practical,  upon  the  Notices  of  St. 
Stephen  and  St.  Philip  the  Evangelist,  contained  in  the  Acts 
of  the  Apostles.  By  Edward  Meyrick  Goulburn,  D.D., 
Dean  of  Norwich.    Second  Edition.    Small  8vo.  6s. 


Waterloo  $Iace,  Hcnoon 


The  Holy  Scriptures 


17 


A  Key  to  the  Knowledge  and  Use  of 

the  Holy  Bible.    By  the  Rev.  John  Henry  Blunt,  M.A., 
F.S.A.,  Editor  of  the  "Dictionary  of  Theology,"  &c.  fee.  New 
Edition.    Small  8vo.    2s.  6d.    Also  a  Cheap  Edition,  is.  6d. 
Forming  a  Volume  of  "  Keys  to  Christian  Knowledge." 

"  Another  of  Mr.  Blunt' s  useful  and  New  Testament.     Lastly,  there  is  a 

workmanlike  compilations,  which  will  serviceable  appendix  of  peculiar  Bible 

be  most  acceptable  as  a  houseJiold  book,  words  and  their  meanings." — Liter- 

or  in  schools  and  colleges.    It  is  a  capi-  aky  Churchman. 

talbook  too  for  schoolmasters  and  pupil  "  We  have  much  pleasure  in  recom- 

teachers.     Its    subject   is    arranged  mending  a  capital  handbook  by  the 

under  the  heads  of— I.  The  Literary  learned  Editor  of  '  The  Annotated 

History  of  the  Bible.    II.  Old  Testa-  Book  of  Common  Prayer.'"—  Church 

ment  Writers  and   Writings.     III.  Times. 

New  Testament  ditto.    IV.  Revela-  "  Merits  commendation,  for  tlte  lucid 

tion  and  Inspiration.     V.  Objects  of  and  orderly  arrangement  in  which  it 

t lie  Bible.    VI.  Interpretation  of  ditto,  presents  a  considerable  amount  of  valu- 

VII.  The  Bible  a  guide  to  Faith,  able   and  interesting  tnatter." — Re- 

VIII.  Tlie    Apocrypha.     IX.    The  cord. 
Apocryphal  Books  associated  with  the 

Daniel    the    Prophet:    Nine  Lectures 

delivered  in  the  Divinity  School  of  the  University  of  Oxford. 
With  copious  Notes.  By  the  Rev.  E.  B.  Pusey,  D.D.,  Regius 
Professor  of  Hebrew,  Canon  of  Christ  Church,  Oxford.  Third 
Edition.    8vo.    10s.  6d. 

Commentary  on  the  Minor  Prophets ; 

with  Introductions  to  the  several  Books.  By  the  Rev.  E.  B. 
Pusey,  D.D.,  Regius  Professor  of  Hebrew,  Canon  of  Christ 
Church,  Oxford.    4to.    3 1  J-.  6d. 

Parts  I.,  II.,  III.,  IV.,  V,  5 s.  each.    Part  VI.,  6s. 

The  Mystery  of  Christ :  being  an  Exa- 
mination of  the  Doctrine  contained  in  the  First  Three  Chapters 
of  the  Epistle  of  Paul  the  Apostle  to  the  Ephesians.  By 
George  Staunton  Barrow,  M.A.,  Vicar  of  Stowmarket. 
Crown  8vo.    Js.  6d. 


anb  at  ©iftirb  anb  Cambribcje 


iS 


Rivington's  Select  Catalogue 


Bible  Eeadings  for  Family  Prayer. 

By  the  Rev.  W.  H.  Ridley,  M.A.,  Rector  of  Hambleden. 
Crown  8vo. 

Old  Testament — Genesis  and  Exodus.  2s. 
The  Four  Gospels,  3^.  6d. 

St.  Matthew  and  St.  Mark.  2s. 
St.  Luke  and  St.  John.  is. 
The  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  2s. 

A  Complete  Concordance  to  the  Old 

and  the  New  Testament ;  or,  a  Dictionaiy,  and  Alphabetical 
Index  to  the  Bible,  in  two  Parts.  To  which  is  added,  a  Con- 
cordance to  the  Apocrypha.  By  Alexander  Cruden, 
M.  A.  With  a  Life  of  the  Author,  by  Alexander  Chalmers, 
F.S.  A.,  and  a  Portrait.    Sixteenth  Edition.   4to.  21s. 

The  Inspiration  of  Holy  Scripture,  its 

Nature  and  Proof.  Eight  Discourses  preached  before  the 
University  of  Dublin.  By  William  Lee,  D.D.,  Archdeacon 
of  Dublin.    Fourth  Edition.    8vo.  15J. 

On  the  Inspiration  of  the  Bible.  Five 

Lectures  delivered  at  Westminster  Abbey.  By  Chr.  Words- 
worth, D.D.,  Bishop  of  Lincoln.  Eighth  Edition.  Small 
8vo.    is.  6d.,  or  in  paper  cover,  If. 

Syntax  and  Synonyms  of  the  Greek 

Testament.  By  the  Rev.  William  Webster,  M.A.,  late 
Fellow  of  Queen's  College,  Cambridge.    8vo.  9-y. 


Waterloo  pace,  Hottoon 


3.  Detiotionai  Ifflorfes 


Library  of  Spiritual  Works  for  English 

Catholics. 

Elegantly  printed  with  red  borders,  on  extra  superfine  toned 
paper.    Small  8vo.    $s.  each. 

OF  THE  IMITATION  OF  CHRIST.  In  4  Books.  By 
Thomas  a  Kempis.    A  New  Translation. 

THE  CHRISTIAN  YEAR  :  Thoughts  in  Verse  for  the 
Sundays  and  Holydays  throughout  the  Year. 

THE  SPIRITUAL  COMBAT  ;  together  with  the  Supple- 
ment and  the  Path  of  Paradise.  By  Laurence  Scu- 
poli.     A  New  Translation. 

THE  DEVOUT  LIFE.  By  S.  Francis  de  Sales, 
Bishop  and  Prince  of  Geneva.    A  New  Translation. 

THE  LOVE  OF  GOD.  By  S.  Francis  de  Sales, 
Bishop  and  Prince  of  Geneva.    A  New  Translation. 

THE  CONFESSIONS  OF  S.  AUGUSTINE.  In  10 
Books.    A  New  Translation. 

The  Volumes  can  also  be  had  in  Morocco  and  other  extra  bindings. 

Cheap  Editions,  yimo,  cloth  limp,  6d.  each,  or  cloth  extra,  red 
edges,  is.  each. 

Of  the  Imitation  of  Christ.  I     The  Hidden  Life  of  the  Soul. 

The  Spiritual  Combat.  Spiritual  Letters  of  S.  Francis  de 

The  Christian  Year.  |  Sales. 

These  Five  Volumes,  cloth  extra,  may  be  had  in  a  Box,  price  ~s. 

[Other  Volumes  are  in  preparation.] 


anli  at  ©iforfc  anti  (Eambrttige 


20  Rivington's  Select  Catalogue 


The  Child  Samuel.     A  Practical  and 

Devotional  Commentary  on  the  Birth  and  Childhood  of  the 
Prophet  Samuel,  as  recorded  in  I  Sam.  i.,  ii.  1-27,  iii.  De- 
signed as  a  Help  to  Meditation  on  the  Holy  Scriptures  for 
Children  and  Young  Persons.  By  Edward  Meyrick  Goul- 
burn,  D.D.,  Dean  of  Norwich.    Small  8vo.  $s. 

The  Gospel  of  the  Childhood :  a  Practi- 
cal and  Devotional  Commentary  on  the  Single  Incident  of  our 
Blessed  Lord's  Childhood  (St.  Luke  ii.  41  to  the  end) ;  designed 
as  a  Help  to  Meditation  on  the  Holy  Scriptures,  for  Children 
and  Young  Persons.  By  Edward  Meyrick  Goulburn, 
D.D.,  Dean  of  Norwich.    Second  Edition.    Square  crown  8 vo. 

Thoughts  on  Personal  Eeligion  ;  being 

a  Treatise  on  the  Christian  Life  in  its  Two  Chief  Elements, 
Devotion  and  Practice.  By  Edward  Meyrick  Goulburn, 
D.D.,  Dean  of  Norwich.  New  Edition.  Small  8vo.  6s.  6d. 
Also  a  Cheap  Edition,  3*.  6d.  Presentation  Edition,  elegantly 
printed  on  Toned  Paper.    Two  vols.    Small  8vo.    10s.  6d. 

The  Pursuit  of  Holiness :  a  Sequel  to 

"Thoughts  on  Personal  Religion,"  intended  to  carry  the 
Reader  somewhat  farther  onward  in  the  Spiritual  Life.  By 
Edward  Meyrick  Goulburn,  D.D.  Sixth  Edition. 
Small  8vo.    $s.    Also  a  Cheap  Edition,  y.  6d. 

Short  Devotional  Forms,  for  Morn- 
ing, Night,  and  Midnight,  and  for  the  Third,  Sixth,  Ninth 
Hours  and  Eventide  of  each  Day  of  the  Week.  Arranged  to 
meet  the  Exigencies  of  a  Busy  Life.  By  Edward  Meyrick 
Goulburn,  D.D.    Fourth  Edition.    32mo.    u.  6d. 


Waterloo  $Iace,  Honoon 


Devotional  Works 


21 


The  Star  of  Childhood :  a  First  Book  of 

Prayers  and  Instruction  for  Children.  Compiled  by  a  Priest. 
Edited  by  the  Rev.  T.  T.  Carter,  M.A.,  Rector  of  Clewer. 
With  Illustrations.    Fourth  Edition.    Square  i6mo.    is.  6d. 

The  Way  of  Life  :  a  Book  of  Prayers  and 

Instruction  for  the  Young  at  School,  with  a  Preparation  for 
Confirmation.  Compiled  by  a  Priest.  Edited  by  the  Rev. 
T.  T.  Carter,  M.A.    Second  Edition.    i8mo.    is.  6d. 

The  Path  of  Holiness :  a  First  Book  of 

Prayers,  with  the  Service  of  the  Holy  Communion,  for  the 
Young.  Compiled  by  a  Priest.  Edited  by  the  Rev.  T.  T. 
Carter,  M.A.  With  Illustrations.  Third  Edition.  Crown 
i6mo.    ij-.  6d.;  cloth  limp,  is. 

The  Treasury  of  Devotion :  a  Manual  of 

Prayer  for  General  and  Daily  Use.  Compiled  by  a  Priest. 
Edited  by  the  Rev.  T.  T.  Carter,  M.A.  New  Edition,  in 
Large  Type.    Crown  8vo.  $s. 

Smaller  Edition.      i8mo.      is.   6d. ;  cloth  limp,  is. ,  or 
bound  with  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  ^s.  6d. 

The  Guide  to  Heaven:  a  Book  of  Prayers 

for  every  Want.  (For  the  Working  Classes.)  Compiled  by 
a  Priest.  Edited  by  the  Rev.  T.  T.  Carter,  M.A.  Seventh 
Edition.    i8mo.    is.  6d. ;  cloth  limp,  is. 

Large -Type  Edition.    Crown  8vo.     is.  6d. ;  cloth  limp,  is. 

Meditations  on  the  Life  and  Mysteries 

of  Our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ.  From  the  French. 
By  the  Compiler  of  "  The  Treasury  of  Devotion."  Edited  by 
the  Rev.  T.  T.  Carter,  M.A.    Crown  8vo. 

Vol.  I.— The  Hidden  Life  of  Our  Lord.    3*  6d. 

Vol.  II.— The  Public  Life  of  Our  Lord.    2  Parts.    $s.  each. 

Vol.  III.— The  Suffering  Life  and  the  Glorified  Life  of  Our 
Lord.    3-r.  6d. 


anti  at  ©xfrrtj  anti  ©amfctfoo;* 


22  Rivington's  Select  Catalogue 


Prayers  and  Meditations  for  the  Holy 

Communion.    By  Josephine  Fletcher.    With  a  Preface  by 
C.  J.  Ellicott,  D.D.,  Lord  Bishop  of  Gloucester  and  Bristol. 
With  red  rubrics  and  borders.  New  Edition.  Royal  32mo.  2s.  6d. 
An  Edition  without  the  red  rubrics.  32mo.   Cloth  limp.  is. 


"  Devout  beauty  is  the  special  char- 
acter of  this  new  manual,  and  it  ought 
to  be  a  favourite.  Rarely  has  it  hap- 
pened to  us  to  meet  with  so  remarkable 
a  combination  of  thorough  practical- 
ness with  that  almost  poetic  warmth 
which  is  the  highest  flower  of  genuine 
devotion."— Literary  Churchman. 

"The  Bishop  recommends  it  to  the 
newly  confirmed,  to  the  tender-hearted 
and  the  devout,  as  having  been  com- 
piled by  a  youthful  person,  and  as 
being  marked  by  a  peculiar  '  fresh- 
ness.' We  have  pleasure  in  second- 
big  the  recommendations  of  the  good 
Bishop.  We  know  of  no  more  suitable 
manual  for  the  newly  confirmed,  and 
nothing  more  likely  to  engage  the 
sympathies  of  youthful  hearts.  There 
is  a  union  of  the  deepest  spirit  of  devo- 
tion, a  rich  expression  of  experimental 
life,  with  a  due  recognition  of  the 


objects  of  faith,  such  as  is  not  always 
to  be  found,  bitt  which  characterises 
this  manual  in  an  eminent  degree.'" — 
Church  Review. 

"  Among  the  supply  of  Eucharistic 
Manuals,  one  deserves  special  atten- 
tion and  commendation.  '  Prayers  and 
Meditations '  merits  the  Bishop  of 
Gloucester' s  epithets  of '  warm,  devout, 
and  fresh. '  A  nd  it  is  thoroughly  Eng- 
lish Church  besides." — Guardian. 

"  We  are  by  no  means  surprised  that 
Bishop  Ellicott  should  have  been  so 
much  struck  with  this  little  work,  on 
accidetitally  seeing  it  in  manuscript, 
ixs  to  urge  its  publication,  and  to  pre- 
face it  with  his  commendation.  The 
devotion  which  it  breathes  is  truly  fer- 
vent, and  the  language  attractive,  and 
as  proceeding  from  a  young  person  the 
work  is  altogether  not  a  little  strik- 
ing. " — Record. 


Words  to  Take  with  Us.    A  Manual  of 

Daily  and  Occasional  Prayers,  for  Private  and  Common  Use. 
With  Plain  Instructions  and  Counsels  on  Prayer.  By  W.  E. 
Scudamore,  M.A.,  Rector  of  Ditchingham,  and  formerly 
Fellow  of  S.  John's  College,  Cambridge.  Fifth  Edition, 
revised.    Small  8vo.    is.  63. 

Sunday    Evenings    in    the  Family. 

Being  Expositions  of  the  Gospels  and  Articles  of  the  Church 
of  England.    Small  8vo.  y. 

Private  Devotions  for  School-boys ; 

with  Rules  of  Conduct.  By  William  Henry,  Third  Lord 
Lyttelton.    New  Edition.    32mo.  63. 


Waterloo  place,  ILonoon 


Devotional  Works 


23 


For  Days  and  Years.  A  Book  contain- 
ing a  Text,  Short  Reading,  and  Hymn  for  every  Day  in  the 
Church's  Year.  Selected  by  H.  L.  Sidney  Lear.  i6mo. 
2s.  6d. 

"Here  are  no  platitudes,  no  mere  tents.  The  readings  have  been  care- 
'  e~oody'  talk;   there  is  in  each  day's  fnlly  selected 'from  the  writings  of some 


portion  sound  and  healthful  food  for 
the  mind  and  soul,  and  also  for  the 
imagination,  whose  need  of  support 
and  guidance  is  too  often  forgotten. 
Text  and  comment  and  hymn  are 
chosen  with  a  pure  and  cultured  taste, 
and  by  the  rel/giotts  earnestness  whidi 
they  show,  tend  to  develop  it  in  the 
reader.  The  book  is,  in  fact,  the  best 
of  its  kind  we  have  ever  seen,  and  for 
the  use  of  church  people  ought  to  super- 
sede all  others." — Literary  Church- 
man. 

"  Will  be  found  exceedingly  useful 
to  those  w/10  thoughtfully  read  its  con- 


of  the  most  eminent  divines  of  ancient 
and  modern  times  with  whose  names 
the  majority  of  our  readers  will  be 
familiar.  The  compiler  has  displayed 
considerable  tact  and  judgment  in 
making  judicious  selections,  and  in  the 
general  arrangeme7it  of  the  contents. 
This  volume  commends  itself  to  the 
consideration  of  all  devoted  members 
of  the  Church." — Court  Circular. 

"  We  heartily  commend  both  the  plan 
and  the  execution.  .  .  .  The  author 
has  proved  that  good  may  be  got  from 
me7i  of  the  most  diverse  mijids." — 
English  Churchman. 


A  Selection  from  Pascal's  Thoughts. 


Translated  by  H.  L.  Sidney 
on  Dutch  hand-made  paper. 

"  We  should  think  highly  of  the 
spirituality  and  intellectual  tastes  of 
the  man  or  woman  who  turned  to  this 
little  book  whenever  the  soul  was 
weary,  or  the  mind  dull,  or  the  heart 
careworn,  or  the  spirit  was  aspiring? 
— Edinburgh  Daily  Review. 

"  Makes  a  charming  little  volume. 
Pascal  is  always  of  interest.  .  .  .  The 
Selection  has  been  made  with  taste." 
— Examiner. 

"  Will  be  welcome  as  a  gift-book, 
and  will  e?irich  and  picrify  the  mind 
of  its  readers,  and  suggests  thoughts 
especially  valuable  in  time  of  per- 
plexity and  doubt,  as  indeed  all  times 


Lear.  Square  i6mo.  Printed 
y.  6d. 

are  cu  this  troublous  earth.  The 
simple-hearted,  the  learned,  the  witty, 
and  the  devout,  all  may  learn  some- 
thing from  these  thoughts,  and  will 
certainly  be  the  better  for  the  learn- 
ing."— John  Bull. 

"An  unusually  excellent  specimen 
of  translation.  [  The  translator}  has  a 
delicate  sense  for  style,  both  French 
and  English;  and  has  the  still  rarer 
gift  of  perceiviiig  and  preserving  in 
the  latter  the  literary  equivalents  of 
the  former  language  ....  These 
selections  really  put  Pascal's  thought 
before  us.  " — Nation  (New  York). 


Faith  and  Life :  Readings  for  the  greater 

Holy  Days,  and  the  Sundays  from  Advent  to  Trinity.  Com- 
piled from  Ancient  Writers.  By  William  Bright,  D.D., 
Canon  of  Christ  Church,  and  Regius  Professor  of  Ecclesiastical 
History  in  the  University  of  Oxford.  Second  Edition.  Small 
8vo.    5  s. 


anto  at  ©xtarti  anto  Cambridge 


24  Rivington's  Select  Catalogue 


Daily  Gleanings  of  the  Saintly  Life. 

Compiled  by  C.  M.  S.,  with  an  Introduction  by  the  Rev.  M. 
F.  Sadler,  M.A.,  Prebendary  of  Wells,  and  Rector  of 
Honiton,  Devon.    Small  8vo.    %s.  6d. 

"The  meditations  are  entirely  taken  will  bear  comparison  with  the  best  of 

from  the  works  of "'the  leading  divines  the  manuals  compiled  from  ancient 

of  the  Great  Catholic  Revival  in  the  sources.    There  is  a  wholesome  Chztrch 

Church  of  England  in  our  own  day.'  of  England  tone  about  this  volume  not 

The  passages  chosen  are  full  of  chas-  always  to  be  found  in  manuals  of  this 

tened  beauty  and  wise  instruction,  and  description." — National  Church. 


Self-Renunciation.     From   the  French. 

With  an  Introduction  by  the  Rev.  T.  T.  Carter,  M.A., 
Rector  of  Clewer,  Berks.    Crown  8vo.  6s. 
Also  a  Cheap  Edition.    Small  8vo.    3s.  6d. 

"  It  is  excessively  difficult  to  review  portion  of  which  is  nozv,  for  the  first 


or  criticise,  in  detail,  a  book  of  this 
kind,  and  yet  its  abounding  merits,  its 
practicalness,  its  searching  good  sense 
and  thoroughness,  and  its  frequent 
beauty,  too,  make  us  wish  to  do  some- 
thing more  than  announce  its  publica- 
tion The  style  is  eminently 

clear,  free  from  redundance  and  pro- 
lixity.'"— Literary  Churchman. 

"  Few  save  Religious  and  those 
brought  into  immediate  contact  with 


time  we  believe,  done  into  English. 
.  .  .  .  Hence  the  suitableness  of 
such  a  book  as  this  for  those  who,  in 
the  midst  of  their  families,  are  endea- 
vouring to  advance  in  the  spiritual 
life.  Hundreds  of  devoid  souls  living 
in  the  world  have  been  encouraged  and 
helped  by  such  books  as  Dr.  Neale's 
'Sermons  preached  in  a  Religious 
House. '  For  such  the  present  work 
will  be  found  appropriate,  while  for 


them  are,  in  all  probability ,  acquainted  Religious  themselves  it  will  be  invalu- 
with  the  French  treatise  ofGuillorS,  a    able."—  Church  Times 


Spiritual  Guidance.  With  an  Introduc- 
tion by  the  Rev.  T.  T.  Carter,  M.A.,  Rector  of  Clewer, 
Berks.    Crown  8vo.  6s. 

Extract  from  Preface. 

["  The  special  object  of  the  volume  is  to  supply  practical  advice  in  matters  of 
conscience,  such  as  may  be  generally  applicable.  While  it  offers,  as  it  is  hoped, 
much  valuable  help  to  Directors,  it  is  full  of  suggestions,  which  may  be  useful  to 
any  one  in  private.  It  thus  fulfils  a  double  purpose,  which  is  not,  as  far  as  I  am 
aware,  otherwise  provided  for,  at  least,  not  in  so  full  and  direct  a  manner."] 

"  As  a  work  intended  for  general  be  found  more  or  less  applicable  to  all 

use,  it  will  be  found  to  contain  much  persons  amid  the  ordinary  difficulties 

valuable  help,  and  may  be  profitably  and  trials  of  life,  and  a  help  to  the 

studied  by  any  one  who  is  desiring  to  training  of  the   mind  in  habits  of 

make  progress  in  spiritual  life.    Much  self  discipline." — Church  Times. 
of  the  contents  of  this  little  book  will 


Waterloo  place,  Honton 


Devotional  Works 


25 


Voices  of  Comfort.    Edited  by  the  Rev. 

Thomas  Vincent  Fosbery,  M.A.,  sometime  Vicar  of  St. 
Giles's,  Reading.    Fourth  Edition.    Crown  8vo.    ys.  6d. 

[This  Volume,  of  prose  and  poetry,  original  and  selected,  aims  at  revealing  the 
fountains  of  hope  and  joy  which  underlie  the  griefs  and  sorrows  of  life. 

It  is  so  divided  as  to  afford  readings  for  a  month.  The  key-note  of  each  day 
is  given  by  the  title  prefixed  to  it,  such  as  :  'The  Power  of  the  Cross  of  Christ, 
Day  6.  Conflicts  of  the  Soul,  Day  17.  The  Communion  of  Saints,  Day  20. 
The  Comforter,  Day  22.  The  Light  of  Hope,  Day  25.  The  Coming  of  Christ, 
Day  28.'  Each  day  begins  with  passages  of  Holy  Scripture.  These  are  fol- 
lowed by  articles  in  prose,  which  are  succeeded  by  one  or  more  short  prayers. 
After  these  are  Poems  or  passages  of  poetry,  and  then  very  brief  extracts  in 
prose  or  verse  close  the  section.  The  book  is  meant  to  meet,  not  merely  cases  of 
bereavement  or  physical  suffering,  but  'to  minister  specially  to  the  hidden 
troubles  of  the  heart,  as  they  are  silently  weaving  their  dark  threads  into  the  web 
of  the  seemingly  brightest  life.'] 

Hymns  and  Poems  for  the  Sick  and 

Suffering.    In  connexion  with  the  Service  for  the  Visitation  of 

the  Sick.     Selected  from  various  Authors.     Edited  by  the 

Rev.  Thomas  Vincent  Fosbery,  M.A.,  sometime  Vicar  of 

St.  Giles's,  Reading.    New  Edition.    Small  8vo.    31.  6d. 

[This  Volume  contains  233  separate  pieces  ;  of  which  about  90  are  by  writers 
who  lived  prior  to  the  eighteenth  century'  ;  the  rest  are  modern,  and  some  of 
these  original.  Amongst  the  names  of  the  writers  (between  70  and  80  in  number) 
occur  those  of  Sir  J.  Beaumont  ;  Sir  T.  Brown  ;  F.  Davison  ;  Elizabeth  of 
Bohemia ;  P.  Fletcher  ;  G.  Herbert ;  Dean  Hickes  ;  Bishop  Ken  ;  Norris  ; 
Quarles  ;  Sandys;  Bishop  J.  Taylor;  Henry  Vaughan ;  and  Sir  H.  Wotton. 
And  of  modern  writers  : — Mrs.  Barrett  Browning  ;  Bishop  Wilberforce  ;  S.  T. 
Coleridge  ;  Sir  R.  Grant ;  Miss  E.  Taylor  ;  W.  Wordsworth  ;  Archbishop  Trench  ; 
Rev.  Messrs.  Chandler,  Keble,  Lyte,  Monsell,  and  Moultrie.] 

The  Christian  Tear  :  Thoughts  in  Verse 

for  the  Sundays  and  Holydays  throughout  the  Year.  New 
Edition,  printed  in  large  type.    Crown  8vo.    y.  6d. 

Elegantly  printed  with  red  borders.  i6mo.  2s.  6d.  Cheap 
Edition,  without  the  red  borders,  cloth  limp,  is. ;  or  in  paper 
cover,  6d. 

Forming  a  Volume  of  "  Rivington's  Devotional  Series." 

Also  New  Editions,  forming  Volumes  of  the  "Library  of 
Spiritual  Works  for  English  Catholics."  Small  8vo.  5^. 
32mo,  cloth  limp,  6d.  ;  cloth  extra,  is.    [See  page  19.] 


antJ  at  ©iforti  anto  Cambritigs 


26  Rivington's  Select  Catalogue 


Spiritual  Letters  to  Men.    By  Arch- 


bishop Fenelon.  By  the  Author  of  1 '  Life  of  Fenelon, ' 
of  S.  Francis  de  Sales,"  &c.  &c.    Crown  8vo.  6s. 


Life 


"Clergy  and  laity  alike  will  wel- 
come this  volume.  Fettelon's  religious 
counsels  have  always  seemed  to  us  to 
present  the  most  remarkable  combina- 
tion of  high  principle  and  practical 
common-sense,  and  nmu  in  this  English 
dress  it  is  really  wonderful  how  little 
of  the  aroma  of  their  original  expres- 
sion has  evaporated.  Elder  clergy  will 
delight  in  comparing  their  own  experi- 
ences with  Fenelon' s  ways  of  trea  ting 
the  several  classes  of  cases  here  taken 
in  hand.  To  yoioiger  clergy  it  will  be 
quite  a  series  of  specimen  examples 
how  to  deal  with  that  which  is  daily 
becoming  a  larger  and  larger  depart- 
ment  of  the  practical  work  of  any 
really  efficie?it  clergyman,  and  laymen 
will  find  it  so  straightforward  and 
intelligible,  so  utterly  free  from  tech- 
nicality, and  jo  entirely  sympathetic 
with  a  layman's  position,  that  we  hope 
it  will  be  largely  bought  and  read 
among  them.    A  more  useful  work  has 


rarely  been  done  than  giving  these 
letters  to  English  readers." — Church 
Quarterly  Review. 

"  This  volume  should  take  a  place 
amongst  the  most  precious  of  the 
Christian  classics." —  Noncon form ist. 

' '  One  of  those  renderings  which  by 
faithfulness  to  their  original,  and  the 
idiomatic  beauty  of  their  style,  are  real 
works  of  art  in  their  way.  It  is  not 
too  much  to  say  that  these  Letters  read 
as  if  they  had  been  first  written  in 
English,  and  that  by  some  master- 
hand.  .  .  .  Of  the  whole  book  it  would 
be  difficult  to  speak  too  highly." — 
Literary  Churchman. 

' '  Those  who  have  the  '  L  ife  of  Fene- 
lon '  by  this  author  will  not  omit  to 
add  his  '  Spiritual  Letters.'  They  are 
U7iiq7ie  for  their  delicacy  and  tender- 
ness of  sentiment,  their  subtle  ana- 
lysis of  character,  and  deep  insight 
i?ito  the  human  heart." — Church  Ec- 
lectic (New  York). 


Spiritual  Letters  to  Women.  By  Arch- 
bishop Fenelon.  By  the  Author  of  ' '  Life  of  Fenelon, "  ' '  Life 
of  S.  Francis  de  Sales,"  &c.  &c.    Crown  8vo.  6s. 


"As  for  the  ' Spiritual Letters'  they 
cannot  be  read  too  often,  and  each 
time  we  take  them  up  we  see  new 
beauties  in  them.  The  tune  to  read, 
them  is  in  the  early  morning,  wfieii 
they  seem  to  breathe  the  very  atmos- 
phere of  heavefi,  and  have  all  the 
fragrance  of  fresh  spiritual  thought 
about  them,  as  the  flowers  carry  on 
their  bosom  the  early  dew.  A  stillness 
of  devotion  and  wrapt  contemplation 
of  God  and  of  heaven  ly  things  charac- 
terizes every  page." — Irish  Ecclesias- 
tical Gazette. 

"  Writing  such  as  this  will  do  more 
to  commend  religion  than  all  the  vain 
dogmatic  thunder  in  which  so  many 
of  its  professors  i7idulge ;  whilst  the 
sweet  and  tender  piety  which  runs 


through  every  page  will  impress  the 
reader  with  the  highest  conceivable  re- 
spect for  the  charade?  of  the  aiithor." 
—Morning  Advertiser. 

"  This  is  an  exceedingly  well-got-up 
edition,  admirably  translated,  of  Feu- 
elon's  celebrated  1  Spiritual  Letters' 
The  translation  is  by  the  author  of  the 
valuable  Lives  of  Fenelon  and  Bossuet, 
and  forms  a  very  suitable  companion 
to  the  previous  work.  Of  the  Letters 
themselves,  there  is  no  need  to  speak. 
The  judgment  to  be  formed  of  them 
depends  so  much  on  the  point  of  view 
fro?n  which  they  are  regarded ;  but 
any  one  will  be  ready  to  admit  the 
beauty  of  their  thoughts,  the  grace  of 
their  tone,  and  the  nobility  of  their 
sen  timen  ts." — Examiner. 


OTaterl00  place,  ILorxocn 


Devotional  Works 


27 


A  Selection  from  the  Spiritual  Letters 

of  S.  Francis  de  Sales,  Bishop  and  Prince  of  Geneva.  Trans- 
lated by  the  Author  of  "Life  of  S.  Francis  de  Sales,"  "A 
Dominican  Artist,"  &c.  &c.    Crown  8vo.  6s. 


"It  is  a  collection  of  epistolary  cor- 
respondence of  rare  interest  and  excel- 
lence. With  those  who  have  read  the 
Life,  tfiere  cannot  but  Iiave  been  a 
strong  desire  to  know  more  of  so  beauti- 
ful a  character." — Church  Herald. 

"A  few  months  back  we  had  the 
pleasure  of  welcoming  the  Life  of  S. 
Francis  de  Sales.  Here  is  the  pro- 
mised sequel: — the  'Selection  from  his 
Spiritual  Letters'  then  announced: — 


and  a  great  boon  it  will  be  to  many. 
The  Letters  are  addressed  to  people  oj 
all  sorts: — to  men  and  to  women: — 
to  laity  and  to  ecclesiastics,  to  people 
living  in  the  world,  or  at  court,  and 
to  the  inmates  of  Religious  Houses. 
We  hope  that  with  our  readers  it 
may  be  totally  needless  to  urge  such  a 
volume  on  their  notice." — Literary 
Churchman. 


Also  a  Cheap  Edition,  forming  a  Volume  of  the  "  Library 
of  Spiritual  Works  for  English  Catholics."  32mo,  cloth  limp, 
6d.  ;  cloth  extra,  is.    [See  page  19.] 


A  Manual  for  the  Sick;  with  other 

Devotions.  By  Lancelot  Andrewes,  D.D.,  sometime 
Lord  Bishop  of  Winchester.  Edited  with  a  Preface  by  H.  P. 
Liddon,  D.D.,  Canon  of  St.  Paul's.  With  Portrait. 
Third  Edition.    Large  type.    24mo.    2s.  6d. 


Our  Work   for   Christ  among  His 

Suffering  People.    A  Book  for  Hospital  Nurses.    By  M.  A. 


Morrell.    Small  8vo.    2s.  6d. 


"  The  thoroughly  sensible  advice 
contained  in  this  book  cannot  fail  to  be 
of  the  highest  possible  t(se ;  indeed,  the 
whole  work  is  so  eminently  practical , 
and  deserves  such  hearty  recognition, 
that  we  cordially  recommend  it,  with 
the  hope  that  it  may  fi,7id  its  way  into 
the  hands  of  all  who  minister  to  the 
sick  within  our  hospital  wards.  The 
prayers  at  the  end  of  the  book  seem  ex- 
actly suited  to  their  pzirpose,  dealing 
as  they  do  with  the  trials  and  neces- 
sities of  a  nurse's  daily  life." — John 
Bull. 

"  It  should  be  in  the  hands  of  every 
sick-nurse  who  desires  to  fulfil  her 


duties  from  the  highest  and  holiest 
motives." — Church  Bells. 

"Contains  excellent  advice  on  the 
subject  of  nursing,  with  the  aim  oj 
raising  its  lowliest  duties  to  a  standard 
of  high  and  holy  motives." — Graphic. 

"  This  excellent  little  book  is  in- 
tended for  a  limited  class  of  readers, 
but  the  practical  lessons  it  teaches  on 
how  to  sanctify  the  labour  of  nursing, 
and  how  to  overcome  its  difficulties, 
may  be  read  with  profit  by  those  who 
are  called  oti  to  nurse  as  amateurs  in 
private  homes,  as  well  as  by  those  who 
have  adopted  the  occupation  as  a  pro- 
fession."— Aunt  Judy's  Magazine. 


anto  at  ©ifarti  anto  (Eamfcrftge 


28 


Rivington's  Select  Catalogue 


The  English  Poems  of  George  Herbert, 

together  with  his  Collection  of  Proverbs,  entitled  Jacula 
Prudentum.    With  red  borders.    i6mo.    2s.  6d. 

Forming  a  Volume  of  "  Rivington's  Devotional  Series. 


"  This  beautiful  little  volume  will 
be  found  specially  convenient  as  a 
pocket  manual.  The  '  Jacula  Pru- 
dentum? or  proverbs,  deserve  to  be 
more  widely  known  than  they  are  at 
present.  In  many  copies  oj  George 
Herberts  writings  these  quaint  say- 
ings have  been  unfortunately  omitted.n 
— Rock. 

"  George  Herbert  is  too  much  a  house- 
hold name  to  require  any  introduction. 
It  will  be  sufficient  to  say  that  Messrs. 
Rivington  have  published  a  most  com- 
pact and  convenient  edition  of  the 
poems  and  proverbs  of  this  illustrious 
English  divine."— English  Church- 
man. 

"An  exceedingly  pretty  edition,  the 
most  attractive  form  we  have  yet  seen 
from  this  delightful  author,  as  a  gift- 
book."— -Union  Review. 


' '  A  very  beautiful  edition  of  the 
quaint  old  English  bard.  All  lovers 
of  the  '  Holy '  Herbert  will  be  grate- 
ful to  Messrs.  Rivington  for  the  care 
and  pains  they  have  bestowed  in  supply- 
ing them  with  this  and  withal  con- 
venient copy  of  poems  so  well  known 
and  so  deservedly  prized." — London 
Quarterly  Review. 

"A  very  tasteful  little  book,  and 
will  doubtless  be  acceptable  to  many. " 
— Record. 

"  We  commend  this  little  book  hear- 
tily  to  our  readers.  It  contains  Her- 
bert's English  poems  and  the  '  Jacula 
Prudentum in  a  very  neat  volume, 
which  does  much  credit  to  the  pub- 
lishers; it  will,  we  hope,  meet  with 
extensive  circulation  as  a  choice  gift- 
book  at  a  moderate  price." — Christian 
Observer. 


A  Short  and  Plain  Instruction  for  the 

better  Understanding  of  the  Lord's  Supper  ;  to  which  is  annexed 
the  Office  of  the  Holy  Communion,  with  proper  Helps  and 
Directions.  By  the  Right  Rev.  Thomas  Wilson,  D.D., 
sometime  Lord  Bishop  of  Sodor  and  Man.  Complete  Edition, 
in  large  type,  with  rubrics  and  borders  in  red.    i6mo.    2s.  6d. 

Also  a  Cheap  Edition,  without  the  red  borders,  is, ;  or  in 
paper  cover,  6d. 

Forming  a  Volume  of  "  Rivington's  Devotional  Series." 

"  The  Messrs.  Rivington  have  pub-  elegance  in  which  this  work  is  got  up. 

lisheda  new  a?id  unabridged  edition  of  — Press  and  St.  James'  Chronicle. 

that  deservedly  popular  work,  Bishop  "A  departed  Author  being  dead  yet 

Wilson  on  the  Lord's  Supper.  .  The  speaketh  in  a  way  which  will  never  be 

edition  is  here  presented in  three forms,  out  of  date;  Bishop  Wilson  on  the 

suited  to  the  various  members  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  published  by  Messrs. 

household." — Public  Opinion.  Rivington,  in  bindings  to  suit  all 

"  We  cannot  withhold the  expression  tastes  and  pockets."  —  Church  Re- 

of  our  admiration  of  the  style  and  view. 


Waterloo  $Ia«,  Eoncon 


Devotional  Works 


29 


Of   the    Imitation    of    Christ.  By 

Thomas  a  Kempis.    With  Red  borders.    i6mo.    2s.  6d. 

Also  a  Cheap  Edition,  without  the  red  borders,  is.;  or  in 
paper  cover,  6d.  ■ 

Forming  a  Volume  of  "  Rivington's  Devotional  Series." 

Also  a  New  Translation,  forming  a  Volume  of  the  "Library 
of  Spiritual  Works  for  English  Catholics."  Small  8vo.  $s. 
32mo,  cloth  limp,  6d.  ;  cloth  extra,  is.    [See  page  19.] 

Introduction   to    the   Devout  Life. 

From  the  French  of  S.  Francis  de  Sales,  Bishop  and  Prince 
of  Geneva.  A  New  Translation.  With  red  borders.  i6mo. 
2s.  6d. 

Forming  a  Volume  of  *  Rivington's  Devotional  Series." 

Also  a  New  Translation,  forming  a  Volume  of  the  "Library 
of  Spiritual  Works  for  English  Catholics."  Small  8vo.  $s. 
[See  page  19.] 

The  Love  of  God.    By  S.  Francis  de 

Sales,  Bishop  and  Prince  of  Geneva.    Small  8vo.  5s. 

Forming  a  Volume  of  the  "Library  of  Spiritual  Works  for 
English  Catholics."    [See  page  19.] 

The  Eule  and  Exercises  of  Holy  Liv- 
ing. By  the  Right  Rev.  Jeremy  Taylor,  D.D.,  sometime 
Bishop  of  Down  and  Connor,  and  Dromore.  With  red  borders. 
i6mo.    2s.  6d. 

Also  a  Cheap  Edition,  without  the  red  borders,  is. 

Forming  a  Volume  of  "  Rivington's  Devotional  Series." 

The  Confessions  of  S.  Augustine.  In 

10  Books.    A  New  Translation.    Small  8vo.  5s. 

Forming  a  Volume  of  the  "  Library  of  Spiritual  Works  for 
English  Catholics.    [See  page  19.] 


anti  at  ©ifort  antJ  Cambridge 


$o  Rivington's  Select  Catalogue 


The  Spirit  of  S.  Francis  de  Sales,  Bishop 

and  Prince  of  Geneva.    Translated  from  the  French  by  the 
Author  of  "The  Life  of  S.  Francis  de  Sales,"  "A  Dominican 
Artist,"  &c.  &c.    Crown  8vo.  6s. 
"  S.  Francis  de  Sales,  as  shown  to   hundred  books — one  only  however  still 
us  by  the  Bishop  oj  Belley,  was  clearly    known  to fame,  the  Spirit  of  S.  Francis 
as  bright  and  lively  a  companion  as    de  Sales,  which  has  fairly  eartted  him 
many  a  sinner  of  witty  reputation.    tJie  title  of  the  ecclesiastical  Boswell." 
He  was  a  studetit  of  human  nature  on    — Saturday  Review. 
the  highest  grounds,  but  he  used  his        "An    admirable    translation  of 
knowledge  for  amusement  as  well  as    BisJwp  Camus'  well-known  collection  of 
edification.    Naturally  we  learn  this    sayings  and  opinions.    As  a  whole,  we 
from  one  of  his  male  friends  rather   can  imagine  no  more  delightful  com- 
than  from  his  female  adorers.    This  panion  than  '  The  Spirit  of  S.  Francis 
friend  is  Jean-Pierre  Camus,  Bishop    de  Sales,'  nor,  we  may  add,  a  more 
of  Belley,  author,  we  are  told,  of  two    useful  one." — People's  Magazine. 


The  Hidden  Life  of  the  Soul.    By  the 

Author  of  "A  Dominican  Artist,"  "Life  of  Bossuet,"  &c.  &c. 

New  Edition.     Small  8vo.    2s.  6d. 

Also  a  Cheap  Edition,  forming  a  Volume  of  the  ' '  Library 

of  Spiritual  Works  for  English  Catholics. "    32mo.   Cloth  limp, 

6d. ;  cloth  extra,  is.  [See  page  19.] 
"  It  well  deserves  the  character  in  God  as  to  make  recovery  easy  and 
given  it  of  being  '  earnest  and  sober,'  sure." — Public  Opinion.; 
and  7iot  '  sensational.' " — Guardian.  "  There  is  a  wonderful  charm  about 
"  From  the  French  of  Jean  Nicolas  tltese  readings — so  calm,  so  true,  so 
Grou,  a  pious  Priest,  whose  works  tJwroughly  Christian.  We  do  not 
teach  resignation  to  the  Divine  will,  know  where  they  would  come  amiss. 
He  loved,  we  are  told,  to  inculcate  As  materials  for  a  consecutive  series 
simplicity,  freedom  from  all  af/ecta-  of  meditations  for  the  faithful  at  a 
tion  and  unreality,  the  patience  and  series  of  early  celebrations  they  would 
humility  which  are  too  surely  grounded  be  excellent,  or  for  jrrivate  reading 
in  self-knowledge  to  be  surprised  at  a  during  Advent  or  Lent." — Literary 
fall,  but  withal  so  allied  to  confidence  Churchman. 

A  Practical  Treatise  concerning  Evil 

Thoughts :  wherein  their  Nature,  Origin,  and  Effect  are 
distinctly  considered  and  explained,  with  many  Useful  Rules 
for  restraining  and  suppressing  such  Thoughts ;  suited  to  the 
various  conditions  of  Life,  and  the  several  tempers  of  Mankind, 
more  especially  of  melancholy  Persons.  By  William  Chil- 
COT,  M.A.  New  Edition.  With  red  borders.  i6mo.  2s.  6d. 
Forming  a  Volume  of  1 '  Rivington's  Devotional  Series. " 


ESEaterkuj  Pace,  Hontion 


Devotional  Works  31 


The  Devotional  Birthday  Book.  [In- 
tended to  record  the  Birth  of  Relations  and  Friends.  The 
Birthdays  of  celebrated  people  are  printed  in  the  Diary,  with 
Devotional  Extracts  in  Verse  and  Prose  suitable  to  the  season 
of  the  year.]    With  red  borders.    i6mo.    2s.  6d. 

Forming  a  Volume  of  "  Rivington's  Devotional  Series. 

The  Eule   and   Exercises  of  Holy 

Dying.  By  the  Right  Rev.  Jeremy  Taylor,  D.D.,  sometime 
Bishop  of  Down  and  Connor,  and  Dromore.  With  red  borders. 
i6mo.    2s.  6d. 

Also  a  Cheap  Edition,  without  the  red  borders,  is. 

The  '  Holy  Living  '  and  the  '  Holy  Dying  '  may  be  had 
bound  together  in  one  Volume,  5*.  ;  or  without  the  red 
borders,  2s.  6d. 

Forming  a  Volume  of  "  Rivington's  Devotional  Series." 

Ancient   Hymns.     From   the  Roman 

Breviary.  For  Domestic  Use  every  Morning  and  Evening  of 
the  Week,  and  on  the  Holy  Days  of  the  Church.  To  which 
are  added,  Original  Hymns,  principally  of  Commemoration  and 
Thanksgiving  for  Christ's  Holy  Ordinances.  By  Richard 
Mant,  D.D.,  sometime  Lord  Bishop  of  Down  and  Connor. 
New  Edition.    Small  8vo.  5-r. 

"  Real  poetry  wedded  to  words  that  some  of  these  translations  with  the 

breathe  the  purest  and  the  sweetest  more  modern  ones  of  our  own  day. 

spirit  of  Christian   devotion.     The  While    we    have    no    hesitation  in 

translations  from  the  old  Latin  Hym-  awarding  the  palm  to  the  latter,  the 

nal  are  close  and  faithful  refiderings."  former  are  an  evidence  of  the  earliest 

— Standard.  germs  of  that  yearning  of  tlie  devout 

"  As  a  Hymn  writer  Bishop  Mailt  mind  for  something  better  than  Tate 

deservedly  occupies  a  prominent  place  and  Brady,  and  which  is  now  so  richly 

in  the  esteem  of  Churchmen,  and  we  supplied" — Church  Times. 
doubt  not  that  many  will  be  the  readers       ''The   translations   are  graceful, 

who  will  welcome  this  new  edition  of  clear,  and  forcible,  and  the  original 

his  translations  and  original  composi-  hymns  deserz>e    the    higJiest  praise, 

cions." — English  Churchman.  Bishop  Mant  has   caught  the  very 

"  A  new  edition  of  Bishop  Mant's  spirit  of  true  psalmody,  and  there  is 

'Ancient  Hymns  from  the   Roman  a   tufieful  ring  in  his  verses  which 

Breviary'  forms  a  handsome  little  especially  adapts  them  for  congrega- 

volume,  and  it  is  interesting  to  compare  tional  singing." — Rock  . 


anto  at  ©ifort  anfc  &amforii)ge 


32 


Rivington's  Select  Catalogue 


Consoling    Thoughts    in  Sickness. 


Edited  by  Henry  Bailey,  B.D. 
paper  cover,  is. 


Small  8vo.    is.  6d.:  or  in 


Consolatio;     or,    Comfort    for  the 

Afflicted.  Edited  by  the  Rev.  C.  E.  Kennaway.  With  a 
Preface  by  Samuel  Wilberforce,  D.D.,  late  Lord  Bishop 
of  Winchester.    New  Edition.    Small  8vo.    y.  6d. 


The  Armoury  of  Prayer.    A  Book  of 

Devotion.  Compiled  by  Berdmore  Compton,  Vicar  of  All 
Saints',  Margaret  Street.    i8mo.    3.5-.  6d. 


"  It  has  a  marked  individuality  of 
its  own,  and  will  no  doubt  meet  with 
a  certain  number  of  persons — chiefly 
men,  it  is  probable — to  whose  spiritual 
wants  it  is  fitted  above  others.  Those 
— and  their  number  is  far  larger  than 
is  generally  borne  in  mind — will  find 
here  a  manual  rich  and  abundant  in 
its  material  for  devotion,  but  remark- 
ably modern  in  its  tone— fitted  to  ex- 
press the  feelings  and  to  interpret  the 
aspirations  of  a  cultured  dweller  in 
towns ;  and  it  is  emphatically  a  book 
of  and  for  the  times."  —  Literary 
Churchman. 


"  The  great  characteristic  of  the 
book  is  its  thorough  reality.  It  puts 
into  the  mouth  of  the  worshipper  words 
which  express,  withoiit  exaggeration, 
what  an  earnest  English  Christian 
would  feel  and  desire.  The  language 
is  neither  a  reproduction  of  foreign  or 
mediceval  sentiment  nor  an  affected 
reproduction  of  archaic  forms,  hit  good 
English  of  the  Bible  and  Prayer  Book 
type.  .  .  .  IVe  could  not  wish  the  book 
to  be  different,  and  on  the  whole  we 
heartily  recommend  it  as  one  of  the 
best  we  know." — Church  Bells. 


The   Light   ot   the   Conscience.  By 

the  Author  of  "The  Hidden  Life  of  the  Soul,"  &c.  With  an 
Introduction  by  the  Rev.  T.  T.  Carter,  M.A.,  Rector  of 
Clewer,  Berks.    Crown  8vo.  $s. 

"  //  is  a  book  of  counsels  for  those       "It  consists  of four-and-thirty  short 

who  wish  to  lead  a  pious  and  godly  life,  chapters  or  readings,  everyone  of  them 

and  may  fill  up  a  gap  that  has  been  full  of  quiet,  sensible,  practical  advice, 

felt  since  the  external  devotional  habits  and  directiofis  upon  some  one  point  of 

of  the  advanced  portion  of  the  present  Christian  living  or  Christian  feeling, 

generation  have  so  much  altered  from  It  is  a  very  beautiful  little  book,  and  it 

thoseof  the  last,  that  the  books  of  counsel  is  a  most  thoroughly  Christian  little 

previotisly  in  use  are  not  deemed  appli-  book,  and  it  is,  moreover,  what  many 

cable  to  those  who  follow  the  full  teach-  good  books  fall  short  of  being,  namely, 

ings  of  the  extreme  ritualistic  party,  a  very  wise  little  book.     Its  calm, 

for  this  book  deals  with  the  most  1  ad-  gentle  sagacity  is  most  striking.' '— 

vanced'  customs."— Guardian.  Literary  Churchman. 


Waterloo  piacr,  Honoon 


Devotional  Works 


55 


A  Manual  of  Devotion,  chiefly  for  the 

use  of  Schoolboys.  By  the  Rev.  William  Baker,  D.D., 
Head  Master  of  Merchant  Taylors'  School.  With  Preface  by 
J.  R.  Woodford,  D.D.,  Lord  Bishop  of  Ely.  Crown  i6mo. 
Cloth  limp.     is.  6d. 

Family  Prayers.    Compiled  from  various 

Sources  (chiefly  from  Bishop  Hamilton's  Manual),  and  arranged 
on  the  Liturgical  Principle.  By  Edward  Meyrick  Goul- 
burn,  D.D.,  Dean  of  Norwich.  New  Edition.  Large  type. 
Crown  Svo.    3^.  6d.    Cheap  Edition.    i6mo.  is. 

Morning  Xotes  of  Praise.    A  Series  of 

Meditations  upon  the  Morning  Tsalms.  Dedicated  to  the 
Countess  of  Cottenham.  By  Lady  Charlotte-Maria 
Pepys.    New  Edition.    Small  Svo.    2s.  6d. 

Quiet  Moments ;  a  Four  Weeks'  Course 

of  Thoughts  and  Meditations  before  Evening  Prayer  and  at 
Sunset  By  Lady  Charlotte-Maria  Pepys.  New  Edi- 
tion.   Small  Svo.    2s.  6d. 

A  Book  of  Family  Prayer.  Compiled 

by  Walter  Farquhar  Hook,  D.D.,  F.R.S.,  late  Dean  of 
Chichester.    Eighth  Edition,  with  Rubrics  in  Red.    i8mo.  2s. 

Aids  to  Prayer ;  or,  Thoughts  on  the 

Practice  of  Devotion.  With  Forms  of  Prayer  for  Private  Use. 
By  Daniel  Moore,  M.  A.,  Chaplain  in  Ordinary  to  the  Queen, 
and  Vicar  of  Holy  Trinity,  Paddington.  Second  Edition. 
Square  32mo.    2s.  6d. 


arrtt  at  ©xtrjrtJ  antJ  (Sarnkftofc 


34 


Rivington's  Select  Catalogue 


The  Words  of  the  Son  of  God,  taken 

from  the  Four  Gospels,  and  arranged  for  Daily  Meditation 
throughout  the  Year.  By  Eleanor  Plumptre.  Crown  8vo. 
p.  6d. 


"  The  quotations  have  been  made 
judiciously,  arid  contain  much  that  is 
valuable  and  practically  useful.  .  .  . 
We  sincerely  unite  with  the  compiler 
i?i  her  desire  that  the  plan  adopted  in 
this  volume  may  prove  uscftil  to  its 
readers." — Record. 

"  The  authoress  oj  this  volume  has 
woven  together  with  loving  care  and 
reverent  hand  the  sayings  of  the  Son 
of  God,  and  it  will  perhaps  surprise 
some  of  those  who  have  not  viewed  our 


Lord's  words  from  this  aspect  to  find 
how  complete  a  manual  they  make  of 
doctrine  and  practice.  .  .  .  We  can 
most  cordially  recommend  this  volume 
to  our  readers,  not  only  for  personal 
use,  but  for  reading  at  morning  and 
eveniug  prayer;  while  to  tlie  clergy  it 
will,  we  believe,  be  found  to  be  a  the- 
saurus of  golden  sayings  which  will 
be  both  suggestive  and  useful."- 
Churchman's  Shilling  Magazine. 


The  Good  Shepherd ;  or,  Meditations 

for  the  Clergy  upon  the  Example  and  Teaching  of  Christ. 
By  the  Rev.  W.  E.  Heygate,  M.A.,  Rector  of  Brighstone. 
Second  Edition,  revised.    Small  8vo.  $s, 
CONTENTS. 

Thoughts  on  Meditation — Devotions  Preparatory  to  Ordination — Early  Life — 
Temptation — Fasting — Prayer — Divine  Scripture — Retirement — Frequent 
Communion  —  Faith  —  Hope  —  Love  —  Preaching  —  Catechizing — Private 
Explanation — Intercession — Bringing  Christians  to  Holy  Communion — 
Preparation  of  those  about  to  Communicate — Jesus  absolving  Sinners — 
Jesus  celebrating  the  Eucharist — Care  of  Children — Care  of  the  Sick  and 
Afflicted — The  Healing  of  Schism — Treatment  of  the  Worldly — Treatment 
of  Penitents — Care  of  God's  House — Fear  and  Fearlessness  of  Offence — 
Bearing  Reproach — Bearing  Praise — Seeking  out  Sinners — Sorrow  over 
Sinners — Consoling  the  Sorrowful — Rebuke — Silence — Disappointment — 
Compassion — Refusing  those  who  suppose  Godliness  to  be  Gain — Peace- 
giving — Poverty— Opportunities  of  Speech — With  Christ  or  Without — 
Watchfulness — In  what  to  Glory — The  Salt  which  has  lost  its  Savour 
— Hard  Cases  — Weariness  — *  Falling  Back — Consideration  for  Others — 
Love  of  Pre-eminence — The  Cross  my  Strength — The  Will  of  God — The 
Fruit  of  Humiliation — The  Praise  of  the  World  the  Condemnation  of  God 
— Jesus  rejoicing — Work  while  it  is  Day — Meeting  again — The  Reward. 
Further  Prayers  suitable  to  the  Clergy — Prayer  for  the  Flock — A  General 
Prayer — Celebration  of  the  Holy  Eucharist — Preaching — Visitation. 

The  Virgin's  Lamp  :  Prayers  and  Devout 

Exercises  for  English  Sisters.  By  the  Rev.  J.  M.  Neale, 
D.D.,  late  Warden  of  Sackville  College,  East  Grinsted. 
Small  8vo.  6d. 


Waterloo  Place,  ILontion 


Devotional  Works 


35 


The  Guide  of   Life  :    a  Manual  of 

Prayers  for  Women  ;  with  the  Office  of  the  Holy  Communion, 
and  Devotions.  By  C.  E.  SKINNER.  Edited  by  the  Rev.  John 
Hewett,  M.  A.,  Vicar  of  Babbacombe,  Devon.  Crown  i6mo. 
2s.  6a. 

"  Clergymen  will  be  glad  to  know  of  tended."  —Church  Quarterly  Re- 
this  little  manual  as  one  which  they  view. 

may  most  safely  put  into  t/ie  hands  of  **  A  very  excellent  manual  for  single 
intelligent  women  of  the  better  class  of  young  women.  Tike  prayers  are 
those  who  have  to  work  for  their  marked  with  a  strong  common-sense 
living.  It  is  very  complete  in  its  tone  which  is  especially  commendable.' 
scope,  and  it  is  not  only  a  manual  of  — Church  Times. 

devotions,  but  is  really  what  it  is  en-  "  Well-selected  prayers  and  hymns 
titled,  'a  Guide  of  Life?  and  is  evidently  for  all  estates  and  conditions  of woman- 
the  work  of  one  wlio  tlwroughly  under-  kind.  It  is  earnest,  devout,  and 
stands  the  needs  and  the  trials  of  the  withal,  sober  and  loyal  in  its  tone." — 
important  class  for  which  it  is  in-   John  Bull. 

Sickness;  its  Trials  and  Blessings. 

Fine  Edition.  Small  8vo.  $s.  6d.  Cheap  Edition,  is.  6d. ; 
or  in  paper  cover,  is. 

Help  and  Comfort  for  the  Sick  Poor. 

By  the  same  Author.    New  Edition.    Small  Svo.  is. 

Prayers  for  the  Sick  and  Dying.  By 

the  same  Author.    Fourth  Edition.    Small  8vo.    is.  6d. 

From  Morning  to  Evening :  a  Book  for 

Invalids.  From  the  French  of  M.  l'Abbe  Henri  Perreyve. 
Translated  and  adapted  by  an  Associate  of  the  Sisterhood  of 
S.  John  Baptist,  Clewer.    New  Edition.    Crown  Svo.  $s. 

Vita  et  Doctrina  Jesu  Christi;  or, 

Meditations  on  the  Life  of  our  Lord.  By  AVANCINI.  In  the 
Original  Latin.  Adapted  to  the  use  of  the  Church  of  England 
by  a  Clergyman.    i8mo.    2s.  6d. 


auti  at  (Diforli  anfc  (Eamfcrftcje 


36  Rivington's  Select  Catalogue 


The   Mysteries   of  Mount  Calvary. 

Translated  from  the  Latin  of  Antonio  de  Guevara.  Edited  by 
the  Rev.  Orby  Shipley,  M.  A.    Square  crown  8vo.    y.  6d. 

Counsels  on  Holiness  of  Life.  Trans- 
lated from  the  Spanish  of  "The  Sinner's  Guide"  by  Luis  de 
Granada.  Edited  by  the  Rev.  Orby  Shipley,  M.  A.  Square 
crown  8vo.  5^. 

Preparation  for  Death.    Translated  from 

the  Italian  of  Alfonso,  Bishop  of  S.  Agatha.  Edited  by  the 
Rev.  Orby  Shipley,  M.A.    Square  crown  8vo.  jjj. 

Examination  of  Conscience  upon  Special 

Subjects.  Translated  and  abridged  from  the  French  of  Tron- 
son.  Edited  by  the  Rev.  Orby  Shipley,  M.A.  Square 
crown  8vo.  5^. 

Christian  Watchfulness,  in  the  Pros- 
pect of  Sickness,  Mourning,  and  Death.  By  John  James, 
D.D.,  sometime  Canon  of  Peterborough.  New  Edition. 
i2mo.  2s' 


4.  Iparisfc  moth. 


The  Book  of  Church  Law.    Being  an 

Exposition  of  the  Legal  Rights  and  Duties  of  the  Clergy  and 
Laity  of  the  Church  of  England.  By  the  Rev.  John  Henry 
Blunt,  M.A.,  F.S.A.  Revised  by  Walter  G.  F.  Philli- 
more,  D.C.L.,  Barrister-at-Law,  and  Chancellor  of  the  Diocese 
of  Lincoln.    Second  Edition,  revised.    Crown  8vo.    Js.  6d. 

CONTENTS. 

BOOK  I.— The  Church  and  its  Laws. — The  Constitutional  Status  of  the 
Church  of  England — The  Law  of  the  Church  of  England — The  Administra- 
tion of  Church  Law. 

BOOK  II.— The  Ministrations  of  the  Church.— Holy  Baptism— Confirma- 
tion— The  Holy  Communion — Divine  Service  in  General — Holy  Matrimony 
— The  Churching  of  Women — The  Visitation  of  the  Sick — The  Practice  of 
Confession — The  Burial  of  the  Dead. 

BOOK  III.— The  Parochial  Clergy.— Holy  Orders— Licensed  Curates— The 
Cure  of  Souls. 

BOOK  IV.— Parochial  Lay  Officers.— Churchwardens— Church  Trustees- 
Parish  Clerks,  Sextons  and  Beadles — Vestries. 

BOOK  V.— Churches  and  Churchyards.— The  Acquisition  of  Churches  and 
Churchyards  as  Ecclesiastical  Property — Churches  and  Ecclesiastical  Persons 
— Churches  and  Secular  Persons. 

BOOK  VI.—  The  Endowments  of  the  Parochial  Clergy.— Incomes- 
Parsonage  Houses — The  Sequestration  of  Benefices. 

APPENDIX.— The  Canons  of  1603  and  1865— The  Church  Discipline  Act  of  1840 
— The  Benefices  Resignation  Act  of  1871 — The  Ecclesiastical  Dilapidations 
Act  of  1871 — The  Sequestration  Act  of  1871— The  Public  Worship  Regula- 
tion Act  of  1874 — Index. 

"  We  Jiave  tested  this  work  on  various  stand  on  every  clergyman's  slielves 

points  of  a  crucial  character,  and  Jiave  ready  for  use  what  any  legal  matter 

found  it  very  accurate  a?id  fidl  in  its  arises  about  which  its  possessor  is  in 

information.    It  embodies  tJie  results  doubt.    .    .    .    It  is  to  be  hoped  that 

of  the  most  recent  Acts  of  tJie  Legis-  tJie    autJwrities  at    our  Theological 

lature  on  the  clerical  profession  ana  Colleges  sufficiently  recognize  tJie  value 

tJie  rights  of  tJie  laity." — Standard.  of  a  little  legal  ktunuledge  on  tJie  part 

"Already  in  our  leading  columns  of  the  clergy  to  recommend  this  book  to 

we  Jiave  directed  attention  to  Messrs.  tJieir  students.    It  would  serve  admir- 

Blunt  and  Phillimore's' Book  of  Church  ably  as  the  text-book  for  a  set  of  lee 

Lazu,'   as  an   excellent  manual  for  tures." — Church  Times. 
ordinary  use.    It  is  a  book  which  should 


antJ  at  ©iforti  anti  (Eamfcritifle 


38  Rivington's  Select  Catalogue 


Flowers  and  Festivals;  or,  Directions 

for  the  Floral  Decoration  of  Churches.  By  W.  A  Barrett, 
Mus.  Bac,  Oxon.,  of  St.  Paul's  Cathedral.  With  Coloured 
Illustrations.    Second  Edition.    Square  crown  8vo.  $s. 

The  Chorister's  Guide.    By  W.  A.  Bar- 

rett,  Mus.  Bac,  Oxon.,  of  St.  Paul's  Cathedral.  Second 
Edition.    Crown  8vo.    2s.  6d. 

"  .  .  .  One  of  the  most  useful  books  admirable  coticiseness,  and  an  equally 
of  instructions  for  choristers — and,  we  observable  completeness,  all  that  is 
may  add,  choral  singers  generally —  necessary  a  chorister  should  be  taught 
tJtat  has  ever  emanated  from  the  out  of  a  book,  and  a  great  deal  calcu- 
musical press.  .  .  .  Mr.  Barrett's  lated  to  have  a  value  as  bearing  in- 
teaching  is  not  o?ily  conz'eyed  to  his  directly  upon  his  actual  practice  in 
readers  with  the  conscioiisfiess  of  being  singing." — Musical  Standard. 
master  of  his  subject,  but  he  employs  "We  can  highly  recommend  the 
words  terse  and  clear,  so  that  his  present  able  manual."—  Educational 
meaning  may  be  promptly  caught  by  Times. 

the  neophyte.    .    .   ." — Athen/EU.m.  "  A  very  useful  manual,  not  only  for 

"A    nicely  graduated,  clear,  and  choristers,  or  rather  those  who  may 

excellent  introduction  to  the  duties  of  aim  at  becoming  choristers,  but  for 

a  chorister.'' — Standard.  others,  who  wish  to  enter  upon  the 

"It  seems  clear  and  precise  enough  study  of  music."—  Rock. 

to  serve  its  end. " — Examiner.  "  The  work  will  be  found  of  singular 

"  A  useful  manual  for  giving  boys  utility  by  those  who  have  to  instruct 

such  a  practical  and  technical  know-  choirs." — Church  Times. 

ledge  of  music  as  shall  enable  them  to  "A  most  grateful  contribution  to 

sing  both  with  confidence  and  preci-  the  agencies  for  improving  our  Ser- 

sion." — Church  Herald.  vices.    It  is  characterised  by  all  that 

"In  this  little  volume  we  have  a  clearness  in  combination  with  concise- 
manual  long  called for  by  the  require-  ness  of  style  which  has  made  '  Flowers 
ments  of  church  music.  In  a  series  of  and  Festivals '  so  universally  ad- 
thirty-two  lessons  it  gives,  with  an  mired." — Toronto  Herald. 


Priest  and  Parish.    By  the  Rev.  Harry 

Jones,  M.A.,  Rector  of  St.  George's-in-the-East,  London. 
Square  crown  8vo.    6s.  6d. 


Wotes  on  Church  Organs :  their  Position 

and  the  Materials  used  in  their  Construction.  By  C.  K.  K. 
Bishop.    With  Illustrations.    Small  4to.  6s. 


Parish  Work 


39 


Stones  of  the  Temple;  or,  Lessons 

from  the  Fabric  and  Furniture  of  the  Church.  By  Walter 
Field,  M.A.,  F.S.A.,  late  Vicar  of  Godmersham.  With 
numerous  Illustrations.    New  Edition.    Crown  8vo.    7*.  6d. 


"Any  one  who  wishes  for  simple  in- 
formation on  the  subjects  of  Church 
architecture  and  furniture,  cannot  do 
better  tha?i  consult  '  Stones  of  the 
Temple.'  Mr.  Field  modestly  dis- 
claims any  intention  of  supplanting 
the  existing  regular  treatises,  but  his 
book  shows  an  amount  of  research,  and 
a  knowledge  of  what  he  is  talking 
about,  which  make  it  practically  use- 
ful as  well  as  pleasant.  TJie  woodcuts 
are  numerous,  and  some  of  them  very 
pretty." — Graphic. 

"A  very  charming  book,  by  the  Rev. 
Walter  Field,  who  was  for  years 
Secretary  of  one  of  the  leading  Church 
Societies.  M r.  Field  has  a  loving  re- 
verence for  the  beauty  of  the  domus 
mansionalis  Dei,  as  tfi£  old  law  books 

called  the  Parish  Church  

Thoroughly  sound  in  Church  feelitig, 
M r.  Field  has  chosen  the  medium  of  a 
tale  to  embody  real  incidents  illustra- 
tive of 'the  various  portions  of  his  sub- 
feet.  T/iere  is  no  attempt  at  elabora- 
tion of  tJie  narrative,  which,  indeed, 
is  ratJier  a  string  of  anecdotes  than  a 
story,  but  each  chapter  brings  liome  to 
the  mind  its  own  lesson,  and  each  is 
illustrated  with  some  very  interesting 
engravings.  .  .  .  The  work  will 
properly  command  a  hearty  reception 
from  Churchmen.  The  footfiotes  are 
occasionally  most  valuable,  and  are 
always  pertinent,  and  the  text  is  sure 
to  be  popular  with  young  folks  for 
Sunday  reading." — Standard. 


"  Mr.  Field's  chapters  on  brasses, 
chancel  screens,  crosses,  encaustic  tiles, 
mural  paintings,  porches  and  pave- 
ments, are  agreeably  written,  and 
people  with  a  turn  for  Ritualism  will 
no  doubt  fitid  them  edifying.  The 
illustrations  of  Church  architecture 
and  Church  ornaments  are  very  at- 
tractive."— Pall  Mall  Gazette. 

"  'Stones  of  t/te  Temple'  is  a  grave 
book,  t/ie  result  of  autiguarian,  or 
rather  ecclesiological,  tastes  and  of 
devotional  feelings.  We  can  recom- 
mend it  to  young  people  of  both  sexes, 
and  it  will  not  disappoint  the  most 
learned  among  them.  .  .  .  Mr. 
Field  has  brought  together,  from  well- 
known  autfwrities,  a  considerable  mass 
of  archaeological  inforjuation,  which 
will  interest  the  readers  he  especially 
addresses. " — Athen^um. 

"  Very  appropriate  as  a  Christmas 
present,  is  an  elegant  and  instructive 
book.  .  .  .  A  full  and  clear  account  of 
the  meaning  and  history  of  the  several 
parts  of  the fabric  and  of  tJie  furniture 
of  the  Church.  It  is  illustrated  with 
a  number  of  carefidly  drawn  pictures, 
sometimes  of  entire  churches,  sometimes 
of  remarkable  monuments,  windows,  or 
wall  paintings.  We  may  add  tJuit  the 
style  of  the  commentary,  which  is  cast  in 
the  form  of  a  dialogue  between  a  parson 
and  some  of  his  parishioners,  and  hangs 
together  by  a  slight  thread  of  story,  is 
quiet  and  sensible,  and  free  from  exag- 
geration or  intolerance." — Guardian. 


A  Handy  Book  on  the  Ecclesiastical 

Dilapidations  Act,  187 1.  With  the  Amendment  Act,  1872. 
By  Edward  G.  Bruton,  F.R.I.B.A.,  Diocesan  Surveyor, 
Oxford.  With  Analytical  Index  and  Precedent  Forms.  Second 
Edition.    Crown  8vo.  $s. 


anto  at  ©ifcirtJ  anti  (Eamfrritige 


40  Rivington's  Select  Catalogue 


The  Bishopric  of  Souls.     By  Robert 

Wilson  Evans,  B.D.,  late  Vicar  of  Heversham  and  Arch- 
deacon of  Westmoreland.  With  an  Introductory  Memoir  by 
Edward  Bickersteth,  D.D.,  Dean  of  Lichfield.  With 
Portrait.    Fifth  Edition.    Small  8vo.    $s.  6d. 

Twenty-One  Years   in   S.  George's 

Mission.  An  account  of  its  Origin,  Progress,  and  Work  of 
Charity.  With  an  Appendix.  By  C.  F.  Lowder,  M.A., 
Vicar  of  S.  Peter's,  London  Docks.    Crown  8vo.  6s. 

Directorium  Pastorale.    The  Principles 

and  Practice  of  Pastoral  Work  in  the  Church  of  England.  By 
the  Rev.  John  Henry  Blunt,  M.A.,  F.S.A.,  Editor  of  "  The 
Annotated  Book  of  Common  Prayer,"  &c.  &c.  New  Edition, 
revised.    Crown  8vo.    Js.  6d. 

' '  This  is  the  third  edition  of  a  work  chial  clergy  is  proved  by  the  acceptance 

which  has  become  deservedly  popular  it  has  already  received  at  their  hands, 

as  the  best  extant  exposition  of  the  and  no  faithful  parish  priest,  who  is 

principles  and  practice  of  the  pastoral  working  in  real  earnest  for  the  exten- 

work  in  the  Church  of  England.    Its  sion  of  spiritual  instruction  amongst 

hints  and  suggestions  are  based  on  all  classes  of  his  flock,  will  rise  from 

practical  experience,  and  it  is  further  the  perusal  of  its  pages  without  having 

recommended  by  the  majority  of  our  obtained  some  valuable  hints  as  to  the 

Bishops  at  the  ordination  of priests  and  best  mode  of  bringing  home  our  Church's 

deacons." — Standard.  system  to  the  hearts  of  his  people." — 

"Its practical  usefulness  to  the paro-  National  Church. 

Ars  Pastoria.    By  Frank  Parnell,  M.A., 

Rector  of  Oxtead,  near  Godstone.  Second  Edition.  Small 
8vo.  2s. 

Instructions  for  the  Use  of  Candidates 

for  Holy  Orders,  and  of  the  Parochial  Clergy ;  with  Acts  of 
Parliament  relating  to  the  same,  and  Forms  proposed  to  be 
used.  By  Christopher  Hodgson,  M.A.,  Secretary  to  the 
Governors  of  Queen  Anne's  Bounty.  Ninth  Edition.  8vo. 
16s. 


Waterloo  place,  ILonoort 


Parish  Work 


41 


The  Church  Builder  :  a  Quarterly  Journal 

of  Church  Extension  in  England  and  Wales.    Published  in 
connexion  with  "The  Incorporated  Church  Building  Society." 
14  Annual  Volumes.   With  Illustrations.    Crown  Svo.    is.  6d. 
New  Series.    Enlarged.    Volumes  for  1876,  1S77,  and 
1879.    $s.  each. 

List  of  Charities,  General  and  Diocesan, 

for  the  Relief  of  the  Clergy,  their  Widows  and  Families.  New 
Edition.    Small  8vo.  3->. 


auto  at  ©iftirtj  anfc  Camfcritigf 


5.  Cfce  Cbutcft  ana  Doctrine- 


The  Holy  Catholic  Church ;  its  Divine 

Ideal,  Ministry,  and  Institutions.  A  short  Treatise.  With  a 
Catechism  on  each  Chapter,  forming  a  Course  of  Methodical 
Instruction  on  the  subject.  By  Edward  Meyrick  Goulburn, 
D.D.,  Dean  of  Norwich.  Second  Edition.  Crown  8vo. 
6s.  6d. 

COXTENTS. 

What  the  Church  is,  and  when  and  how  it  was  founded— Duty  of  the  Church 
towards  those  who  hold  to  the  Apostles'  doctrine,  in  separation  from  the 
Apostles'  fellowship — The  Unity  of  the  Church,  and  its  Disruption— The 
Survey  of  Zion's  towers,  bulwarks,  and  palaces — The  Institution  of  the 
Ministry,  and  its  relation  to  the  Church— The  Holy  Eucharist  at  its  suc- 
cessive stages — On  the  powers  of  the  Church  in  Council — The  Church 
presenting,  exhibiting,  and  defending  the  Truth — The  Church  guiding  into 
and  illustrating  the  Truth— On  the  Prayer- Book  as  a  Commentary  on  the 
Bible— Index. 

"Dr.  Goulburn  has  conferred  a  great  "Must  Prove  highly  useful,  not 
boon  on  the  Church  of  Engla?id  by  the  only  to  young  persons,  but  to  the 
treatise  before  us,  which  vindicates  her  very  large  class,  both  Churchmen  and 
claim  as  a  branch  of  the  Catholic  Dissenters,  who  are  painfully  ignorant 
Church  on  the  allegiance  of  her  chil-  of  what  the  Catholic  Church  really  is, 
dren,  setting  forth  as  he  does,  with  and  of  the  peculiar  and  fixed  character 
singular  precision  and  power,  the  of  her  institutions." — Rock. 
grounds  of  her  title-deeds,  and  t/ie  "  The  catechetical  questions  and 
Christian  character  of  her  doctrine  and  answers  at  the  end  of  each  chapter  will 
discipline. " —  Standard.  be  useful  both  for  teachers  and  learners, 

"His  present  book  would  have  been  and  the  side-notes  at  t/te  head  of  the 
used for  an  educational  book  even  if  lie  paragraphs  are  very  handy." — Church 
had  7iot  inzited  men  to  make  that  use  Times. 

of  it  by  appending  a  catechism  to  each  "It  contains  a  great  deal  of  instruc- 
particular  chapter,  and  thus  founding  live  matter,  especially  in  the  catechisms 
a  course  of  methodical  instruction  upon  — or,  as  they  might  be  called,  dialogues 
his  text.  We  Jiave  not  yet  come  across  — and  is  instinct  with  a  spirit  at  once 
any  better  book  for  giving  to  Dissenters  temperate  and  uncompromising.  It  is 
or  to  such  inquirers  as  hold  fast  to  Holy  a  good  book  for  all  who  wish  to  under - 
Scripture.  It  is,  we  need  scarcely  say,  stand,  neither  blindly  asserting  it  nor 
steeped  in  Scripturahiess,  and  full  of  being  half  ashamed  of  it,  the  position 
bright  and  suggestive  interpretations  of  of  a  loyal  member  of  the  English 
particular  texts."— English  Church-   Church." — Guardian. 

MAN. 


OEatrrloa  Place,  ILonUrjn 


Church  and  Doctrine 


4:, 


Dictionary  of  Sects,  Heresies,  Ecclesias- 
tical Parties  and  Schools  of  Religious  Thought.  By  Various 
Writers.  Edited  by  the  Rev.  John  Henry  Blunt,  M.A., 
F.S.A.,  Editor  of  the  "Dictionary  of  Doctrinal  and  Historical 
Theology,"  the  "Annotated  Book  of  Common  Prayer,"  &c. 
See.    Imperial  8vo.    36^. ;  or  in  half-morocco,  48^. 


"  We  doubt  not  that  the  Dictionary 
will  prove  a  useful  work  of  refer- 
ence ;  and  it  ?nay  claim  to  give  in 
reasofiable  compass  a  mass  of  infor- 
mation  respecting  many  religious 
sc/wols  kuoTvledge  of  which  could  pre- 
viously only  be  acquired  from  amid  a 
host  of  literature.  The  articles  are 
written  with  great  fair?iess,  and  in 
many  cases  display  careful  scJwlarly 
work. " — At  h  enve  r  M . 

"A  very  comprehensive  and  bold 
undertakitig,  and  is  certainly  executed 
with  a  sufficient  amount  of  ability 
and  knowledge  to  entitle  the  book  to 
rank  very  high  in  point  of  utility." — 
Guardian. 

"  That  this  is  a  work  of  some  learn- 
ing and  research  is  a  fact  which 
soon  becomes  obvious  to  the  reader. " — 
Spectator. 


"A  whole  library  is  condensed  into 
this  admirable  volume.  A 11  authorities 
are  named,  and  an  i?iz>aluable  index 
is  supplied."  —  Notes  and  Queries. 

"  We  have  tested  it  rigidly,  and  in 
almost  every  instance  we  have  been 
satisfied  with  tJie  account  given  under 
the  name  of  sects,  heresy,  or  ecclesi- 
astical party." — John  Bull. 

"  It  is  the  fullest  a?id  most  trust 
worthy  book  of  the  kind  that  we 
possess.  The  quantity  of  information 
it  presents  in  a  convenient  and  access- 
ible form  is  e?iormous,  and  Jiaving 
once  appeared,  it  becomes  indispensable 
to  the  theological  student." — Church 
Times. 

"It  has  considerable  value  as  a 
copious  work  of  reference,  more  espe- 
cially since  a  list  of  authorities  is  in 
most  cases  supplied" — Examiner. 


The  Doctrine  of  the  Church  of  England, 

as  stated  in  Ecclesiastical  Documents  set  forth  by  Authority 
of  Church  and  State,  in  the  Reformation  Period  between  1536 
and  1662.  Edited  by  the  Rev.  John  Henry  Blunt,  M.A., 
F.S.A.,  Editor  of  the  "  Dictionary  of  Doctrinal  and  Historical 
Theology,"  the  "Annotated  Book  of  Common  Prayer,"  Sec. 
Sec.    8vo.    Js.  6d. 

The  Orthodox  Doctrine  of  the  Church 

of  England  explained  in  a  Commentary  on  the  Thirty-Nine 
Articles.  By  the  Rev.  T.  I.  Ball.  With  an  Introduc- 
tion by  the  Rev.  W.  J.  E.  Bennett,  M.A.,  Vicar  of  Frome- 
Selwood.    Crown  8vo.    fs.  6d. 


anti  at  ©xiaxb  ant!  Cambridge 


44  Rivington's  Select  Catalogue 


Dictionary  of  Doctrinal  and  Historical 

Theology.  By  Various  Writers.  Edited  by  the  Rev.  John 
Henry  Blunt,  M.A.,  F.S.A.,  Editor  of  the  "Annotated 

Book  of  Common  Prayer,"  &c.  &c.  Second  Edition,  Im- 
perial 8vo.    42s.  ;  or  in  half-morocco,  $2s.  6d. 

"  We  know  no  book  of  its  size  and  it  is  not  meant  that  all  these  remarks 

bulk  which  supplies  the  information  apply  in  their  full  extent  to  every 

here  given  at  all;  far  less  which  article.    In  a  great  Dictionary  there 

supplies  it  in  an  arrangement  so  ac-  are  compositions,  as  in  a  great  house 

cessible,  with  a  completeness  of  infor-  there  are  vessels,  of  various  kinds, 

mation  so  thorough,  and  with  an  ability  Home  of  these  at  a  future  day  may  be 

in  the  treatment  of  profound  subjects  replaced  by  others  more  substantial  in 

so  great.    Dr.  Hook's  most  useful  vol-  their  build,  more  proportionate  in  their 

ume  is  a  work  of  high  calibre,  but  it  is  outline,  and  more  elaborate  in  their 

the  work  of  a  single  mind.    We  have  detail.     But  admitting  all  this,  the 

here  a  wider  range  of  thought  from  a  whole  remains  a  home  to  which  the 

greater  variety  of  sides.     We  have  student  will  constantly  recur,  sure  to 

here  also  the  work  of  men  who  evidently  find  spacious  chambers,  substantial 

know  what  they  write  about,  and  are  furniture,  and  {which  is  most  impor- 

somewhat  more  profound  (to  say  the  t ant)  no  stinted  light." — Church  Re- 

least)  than  the  writers  of  the  current  view. 

Dictionaries  of  Sects  and  Heresies."—  "  Within  the  sphere  it  has  marked 

Guardian.  out  for  itself,  ?io  equally  useful  book 

"  Th?is  it  will  be  obvious  that  it  of  reference  exists  in  English  for  the 
takes  a  very  much  wider  range  than  elucidation  of  theological  problems, 
any  undertaking  of  the  same  kind  in  .  .  .  Entries  which  display  much 
our  language  ;  and  that  to  those  of  our  care,  research,  and  judgment  in  com- 
clergy  who  '  have  not  the  fort?me  to  filiation,  and  which  will  make  the  task 
spend  in  books,  and  would  not  have  of  the  parish  priest  who  is  brought  face 
the  leisure  to  use  them  if  they  possessed  to  face  with  any  of  the  practical  ques- 
them,  it  will  be  the  most  serviceable  tions  which  they  involve  far  easier  than 
and  reliable  substitute  for  a  large  lib-  has  been  hitherto.  The  very  fact  that 
rary  we  can  think  of.  A  nd  in  many  the  utterances  are  here  and  there  some- 
cases,  while  keeping  strictly  within  its  what  more  guarded  and  hesitating 
province  as  a  Dictionary,  it  contrives  titan  quite  accords  with  our  judgment, 
to  be  marvellously  suggestive  of  thought  is  a  gain  in  so  far  as  it  protects  the 
and reflections,  which  a  serious-minded  work  from  the  charge  of  inculcating 
man  will  take  with  him  and  ponder  extreme  views,  and  will  thus  secure 
over  for  his  own  elaboration  aridftcture  its  admission  in  many  places  where 
use.  We  trust  most  sincerely  that  the  moderation  is  accounted  the  crowning 
book  may  be  largely  used.  For  a  pre-  grace.'" — Church  Times. 
senttoaClergymanonhisordination,or  "  It  will  be  found  of  admirable  ser- 
fromaparishionertohispastorjtwotdd  vice  to  all  students  of  theology,  as 
be  most  appropriate.  It  may  indeed  advancing  and  maintaining  the 
be  called  '  a  box  of  tools  for  a  work-  Church's  views  on  all  subjects  as 
ing  clergyman."' — Literary  Church-  fall  within  the  range  of fair  argument 
MAN.  and  inquiry.     It  is  not  often  that  a 

"Seldom  has  an  English  work  of  work  of  so  comprehensive  and  so  pro- 
equal  magnitude  been  so  permeated  found  a  nature  is  marked  to  the  very 
with  Catholic  instincts,  and  at  the  end  by  so  many  signs  of  wide  and  care- 
same  time  seldom  has  a  work  on  theo-  ful  research,  sound  criticism,  and  well- 
logy  been  kept  so  free  from  the  drift  founded  and  well-expressed  belief."  — 
of  rhetorical  incrustation.    Of  course,  Standard. 


45 


Ail  Eirenicon  of  the  Eighteenth.  Cen- 
tury. Proposal  for  Catholic  Communion.  By  a  Minister  of 
the  Church  of  England.  Edited  by  Henry  Nutcombe  Oxen- 
ham,  M.A.  New  Edition.  With  Introduction,  Appendices, 
and  Notes.    Svo.     los.  6d. 

''His  especial  /Merit  is  that  of  put-  which  have  been  made  fro?n  time  to 

ting  it  in  a  Jorm  sufficiently  simple  and  time  to  re-establish  communion  between 

telling  to  come  Iwme  to  the  understand-  the  Churches." — Literary  Church- 

ings  of  all  fairly  educated  persons,  man. 

however  unversed  in  the  technicalities       "All  interested  in   Reunion  will 

of  contrcrjersial  divinity." — Church  welcome  the  reprint  of  an  important 

Quarterly  Review.  book  on  this  great  subject.  .  .  .  It 

"Mr.  Oxenliam   has    disinterred,  certainly  \s  the  most  important  contri- 

and  liere  presents  to  the  public,  an  bution  to  tlie  Reunion  movement  since 

historical  curiosity.    .    .    .    To    this  the  celebrated  '  Essays,'  and  desenes 

treatise  lie  lias  prefixed  a  highly-in-  to  be  *ead  a?id  presented  by  all  peace- 

teresting  sketch  of  the  various  attempts  makers'' — Reunion*  Magazine. 


Apostolical  Succession  hi  the  Church 

of  England.  By  the  Rev.  Arthur  W.  Haddan,  B.D.,  late 
Rector  of  Barton-on-the-Heath.    New  Edition.    8vo.  \2s. 

"  Thoroughly    ruell  written,   clear  the  minds  of  Church  people.    .    .  . 

and  forcible  in  style,  and  fair  in  tone.  We  hope  that  our  extracts  will  lead 

It  cannot  but  render  valuable  sen-ice  our  readers  to  study  Mr.  Haddan  for 

in  placing  the  claims  of  the  Church  in  themselves." — Literary  Churchman. 

their  true  light  before   tlie   English  "  This  is  not  only  a  very  able  and 

public." — Guardian.  carefully  written  treatise  upon  thedoc- 

"  Among  tlie  many  standard  tJieo-  trine  of  Apostolical  Succession,  but  it 

logical  works  devoted  to  this  important  is  also  a  calm  yet  noble  vindication  of 

subject  Mr.  Haddan  s  will  hold  a  high  the  validity  of  the  Anglican  Orders: 

place. " — Standard.  it  well  sustains  tlie  brilliant  reputation 

"  We  sliouldbe  glad  to  see  the  volume  which  Mr.  Haddan  left  behind  him  at 

widely  circulated  and  generally  read."  Oxford,  and  it  supplements  his  other 

— John  Bull.  profound  historical  researches  in  ecciesi- 

"A  weighty  and  valuable  treatise,  astical  matters.    This  book  will  remain 

and  we  Iwpe  that  tlie  study  of  its  sound  for  a  long  time  tlie  classic  work  upon 

and  well-reasoned  pages  will  do  much  English  Orders." — Church  Review. 

to  fix  tlie  importance,  a?id  the  full  "A  very  temperate  and  well-rea- 

meaning  of  the  doctrine  in  question,  in  soned  book." — Westminster  Review. 


The  Civil  Power  in  its  Eelations  to  the 

Church ;  considered  with  Special  Reference  to  the  Court  of 
Final  Ecclesiastical  Appeal  in  England.  By  the  Rev.  James 
Wayland  Joyce,  M.A.,  Prebendary  of  Hereford,  and 
Examining  Chaplain  to  the  Bishop  of  Hereford.    Svo.    \os.  6f. 


sno  at  ©ifotfo  anfc  Cambridge 


46  Rivington's  Select  Catalogue 


The  Theory  of  Development.  A  Criti- 
cism of  Dr.  Newman's  Essay  on  the  Development  of  Christian 
Doctrine,  reprinted  from  "The  Christian  Remembrancer," 
January  1847.  By  J.  B.  Mozley,  D.D.,  late  Canon  of  Christ 
Church,  and  Regius  Professor  of  Divinity  in  the  University  of 
Oxford.    Crown  8vo.  $s. 

Miscellanies,  Literary  and  Keligious. 

By  Chr.  Wordsworth,  D.D.,  Bishop  of  Lincoln.  3  Vols. 
8vo.  36s. 

The  Holy  Angels  :   Their  Nature  and 

Employments,  as  recorded  in  the  Word  of  God.  Small  8vo. 
6s. 

The  Principal  Ecclesiastical  Judg- 
ments delivered  in  the  Court  of  Arches,  1867-1875.  By  the 
Right  Hon.  Sir  Robert  Phillimore,  D.C.L.    8vo.  12s. 

Our  Mother  Church :  being  Simple  Talk 

on  High  Topics.  By  Anne  Mercier.  New  Edition. 
Small  8vo.    3^.  6d. 

"  We  have  rarely  come  across  a  as  we  could  do  in  a  longer  notice 

book  dealing  -with  an  old  subject  in  a  than  we  can  spare  the  volume.  No 

healthier  and,  as  far  as  may  be,  more  one  can  fail  to  comprehend  the  beauti- 

original  manner,  while  yet  thoroughly  fully  simple,  devout,  and  appropriate 

practical.     It  is  intended  for  and  language  in  which  Mrs.  Mercier  em- 

admirably    adapted   to    the    use    of  bodies  what  she  has  to  say;  attd  for 

girls.      Thoroughly  reverent  in   its  the  facts  with  which  she  deals  she  has 

tone,    and   bearing   in    every  page  taken  good  care  to  have  their  accuracy 

marks  of  learned  research,  it  is  yet  assured." — Standard. 
easy  of  comprehension,  and  explains'      "  The  plan  of  this  pleasant-looking 

ecclesiastical  terms  with  the  accuracy  book  is  excellent.    It  is  a  kind  of  Mrs. 

of  a  lexicon  without  the  accompanying  Markham  on  the  Church  of  England, 

d?dness.     It  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  written  especially  for  girls,  and  we 

book  will  attain  to  the  large  circula-  shall  not  be  surprised  to  find  it  become 

tion  it  justly  merits." — John  Bull.  a  favourite  in  schools.    It  is  really  a 

"  We  have  never  seen  a  book  for  conversational  hand-book  to  the  English 

girls  of  its  class  which  commends  Church's  history,  doctrine,  and  ritual, 

itself  to  us  more  particularly.    The  compiled  by  a  very  diligent  reader  from 

author  calls  her  work  'simple  talk  on  some  of  the  best  modem  Anglican 

great  subjects,'  and  calls  it  by  a  name  sources."— English  Churchman. 
that  describes  it  almost  as  completely 


Waterloo  Place,  fLonoon 


Church  and  Doctrine 


47 


After  Death.  An  Examination  of  Primi- 
tive Times  respecting  the  State  of  the  Faithful  Dead,  and  their 
Relationship  to  the  Living.  In  Two  Parts.  By  Herbert 
Mortimer  Luckock,  D.D.,  Canon  of  Ely,  Principal  of  the 
Theological  College,  Examining  Chaplain  to  the  Bishop,  and 
sometime  Fellow  of  Jesus  College,  Cambridge.  Crown  8vo.  6s. 

CONTENTS. 

Part  I. — TJie  State  of  the  Faithful  Dead  ami  the  Good  Offices  of  the  Living 
in  their  Behalf:  Vincentian  Canon — Value  of  the  Testimony  of  the 
Primitive  Fathers — The  Intermediate  State — Change  in  the  Intermediate 
State — Prayers  for  the  Dead  :  Reasons  for  our  Lord's  Silence  on  the 
Subject — Testimony  of  Holy  Scripture — Testimony  of  the  Catacombs — 
Testimony  of  the  Early  Fathers — Testimony  of  the  Primitive  Liturgies — 
Prayers  for  the  Pardon  of  Sins  of  Infirmity  and  the  Effacement  of  Sinful 
Stains — Inefficacy  of  Prayer  for  those  who  died  in  wilful  unrepented  Sin. 

Part  11.— The  Good  Offices  of  the  Faithful  Dead  in  Behalf  of  the  Living  : 
Primitive  Testimony  to  the  Intercession  of  the  Saint — Primitive  Testi- 
mony to  the  Invocation  of  the  Saints — Trustworthiness  of  the  Patristic 
Evidence  for  Invocation  tested — The  Primitive  Liturgies  and  the  Roman 
Catacombs — Patristic  Opinion  on  the  extent  of  the  Knowledge  possessed 
by  the  Saints — Testimony  of  Holy  Scripture  upon  the  same  Subject — 
Beatific  Vision  not  yet  attained  by  any  of"  the  Saints — Conclusions  drawn 
from  the  foregoing  Testimony. 

Out  of  the  Body.    A  Scriptural  Inquiry. 

By  the  Rev.  James  S.  Pollock,  M.A.,  Incumbent  of  S. 
Alban's,  Birmingham.    Crown  8vo.  $s. 

CONTEXTS. 

Introduction— Scope  of  the  Inquiry— The  Presentiment— The  Anticipation— The 
Departure— The  Life  of  the  Body— The  Life  of  the  Spirit— Dream-Life- - 
The  Spirit-World — Spirit-Groups— Helping  one  another — Limits  of  Com- 
munication— Spiritual  Manifestations. 

Prophecies  and  the  Prophetic  Spirit 

in  the  Christian  Era  :  an  Historical  Essay.  By  John  J. 
IGN.  Von  Dollinger,  D.D.,  D.C.L.  Translated,  with 
Introduction,  Notes,  and  Appendices,  by  the  Rev.  Alfred 
Plummer,  M.A.,  Master  of  University  College,  Durham, 
late  Fellow  of  Trinity  College,  Oxford.    8vo.    10s.  6d. 

Lectures    on   the   Reunion   of  the 

Churches.  By  John  J.  Ign.  Von  Dollinger,  D.D.,  D.C.L. 
Authorized  Translation,  with  Preface  by  Henry  Nutcombe 
Oxenham,  M.A.,  late  Scholar  of  Balliol  College,  Oxford. 
Crown  8vo.  $s. 


antJ  at  ©iforU  anti  Cambrftse 


48  Rivington's  Select  Catalogue 


Eight  Lectures  on  the  Miracles ;  being 

the  Bampton  Lectures  for  1865.  By  J.  B.  Mozley,  D.D., 
late  Canon  of  Christ  Church,  and  Regius  Professor  of  Divinity 
Oxford.    Fourth  Edition.    Crown  8vo.    7s.  6d. 

"There  is  great  brightness  and  beauty  are  an  example,  and  a  very  fine  one, 
in  many  of  the  images  in  which  the  of  a  mode  of  tJieological  writing  which 
author  condenses  the  issues  of  his  is  characteristic  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
arguments.  A  nd  many  passages  are  land,  and  almost  peculiar  to  it.  The 
marked  by  that  peculiar  kind  of  elo-  distinguishing  features,  a  combination 
quence  which  comes  with  the  force  of  of  intense  seriousness  with  a  self-re- 
close  and  vigorotis  thinking ;  passages  strained,  severe  calmness,  and  of  very 
which  slime-like  steal  through  their  vigorous  and  wide-ranging  reasoning 

very  temper,  and  which  are  instinct    on  the  realities  of  the  case  

with  a  controlled  efiergy,  that  melts  Mr.  Mozley" s  book  belongs  to  that  class 

away  all    rugged7iess    of  language,  of  writings  of  which  Butler  may  be 

There  can  be  no  question  that,  in  the  taken  as  the  type.    It  is  strong,  genuine 

deeper  qtialities  of  a  scientific  theology,  argument  abotit  difficult  matters \fairly 

the  book  is  thoroughly  worthy  of  the  facing  what  is  difficult,  fairly  trying 

highest  refutation    which  had  been  to  grapple,  not  with  what  appears  the 

gained  by  Mr.  Mozley 's  previous  writ-  gist  and  strong  point  of  a  question,  but 

ings." — Contemporary  Review.  with  what  really  atid  at  bottom  is  the 

"Mr.  Mozley  s  Bampton  Lectures  knot  of  it." — Times. 

The  Happiness  of  the  Blessed  con- 
sidered as  to  the  Particulars  of  their  State  :  their  Recognition 
of  each  other  in  that  State :  and  its  Differences  of  Degrees. 
To  which  are  added  Musings  on  the  Church  and  her  Services. 
By  Richard  Mant,  D.D.,  sometime  Lord  Bishop  of  Down 
and  Connor.    New  Edition.    Small  8vo.    2s-  6d. 

"A  welcome  republication  of  a  trea-  "All  recognise  the  authority  of  the 
Use  once  highly  valued,  and  which  can  command  to  set  the  affections  on  things 
never  lose  its  value.  Many  of  our  above,  and  such  works  as  the  one  now 
readers  already  know  the  fulness  and  before  us  will  be  found  helpful  towards 
discrimination  with  which  the  author  this  good  end.  We  are,  therefore,  sin- 
treats  his  stibject,  which  must  be  one  of  cerely  glad  that  Messrs.  Rivington 
the  most  delightful  topics  of  meditation  have  brought  out  a  new  edition  of 
to  all  whose  hearts  are  where  the  ofily  Bishop  M ant's  valuable  treatise." — 
true  treasure  is,  a?id  particularly  to  Record. 
those  who  are  entering  upon  the  even- 
ing of  life. " — Church  Review. 

St.  John  Ohrysostom's  Liturgy.  Trans- 
lated by  H.  C.  Romanoff,  Author  of  "Sketches  of  the  Rites 
and  Customs  of  the  Greco-Russian  Church,"  &c.    With  Illus- 
t  trations.    Square  crown  8vo.    4J.  6d. 


TOaterlco  place,  Hontion 


Church  and  Doctrine 


49 


Dogmatic  Faith :  an  Inquiry  into  the 

Relation  subsisting  between  Revelation  and  Dogma.  Being 
the  Bampton  Lectures  for  1867.  By  Edward  Garbett, 
M.A.,  Incumbent  of  Christ  Church,  Surbiton.  New  Edition. 
Crown  Svo.  5j-. 

Thirty-two  Years  of  the  Church  of 

England,  1S42-1S75  :  The  Charges  of  Archdeacon  Sinclair. 
Edited  by  William  Sinclair,  M.  A. ,  Prebendary  of  Chichester, 
Rector  of  Pulborough,  late  Vicar  of  S .  George's,  Leeds.  With 
a  Preface  by  Archibald  Campbell  Tait,  D.D.,  Archbishop 
of  Canterbury,  and  a  Historical  Introduction  by  Robert 
Charles  Jenkins,  M.  A. ,  Hon.  Canon  of  Canterbury,  Rector 
and  Vicar  of  Lyminge.    8vo.    12s.  6d. 

The  Thirty-nine  Articles  of  the  Ch Lirch 

of  England  explained  in  a  Series  of  Lectures.  By  the  Rev. 
R.  W.  Jelf,  D.D.,  late  Canon  of  Christ  Church,  Oxford,  and 
sometime  Principal  of  King's  College,  London.  Edited  by 
the  Rev.  J.  R.  King,  M.A.,  Vicar  of  St.  Peter's-in-the-East, 
Oxford,  and  formerly  Fellow  and  Tutor  of  Merton  College. 
8vo.  15*. 

Letters  from  Eome  on  the  Council. 

By  Quirinus.  Reprinted  from  the  "Allgemeine  Zeitung." 
Authorized  Translation.    Crown  Svo.  12s. 

The  Pope  and  the  Council.    By  Janus. 

Authorized  Translation  from  the  German.  Fourth  Edition. 
Crown  8vo.    Js.  6d. 


antj  at  £x£mft  Brito  Camfontig* 


6.  Sermons. 


Sermons  Preached  before  the  Univer- 
sity of  Oxford.  (Second  Series,  1 868- 1879.)  By  Henry  Parry 
Liddon,  D.D.,  D.C.L.,  Canon  of  St.  Paul's,  and  Ireland 
Professor  of  Exegesis  in  the  University  of  Oxford.  Crown 
8vo.  5s. 

CONTENTS. 

Prejudice  and  Experience— Humility  and  Truth— Import  of  Faith  in  a  Creator 
— Worth  of  Faith  in  a  Life  to  Come— Influences  of  the  Holy  Spirit — 
Growth  _  in  the  Apprehension  of  Truth— The  Life  of  Faith  and  the 
Athanasian  Creed — Christ's  Service  and  Public  Opinion— Christ  in  the 
Storm — Sacerdotalism— The  Prophecy  of  the  Magnificat— The  Fall  of 
Jericho— The  Courage  of  Faith — The  Curse  on  Meroz — The  Gospel  and 
the  Poor— Christ  and  Human  Law. 

Sermons  Preached  before  the  Univer- 
sity of  Oxford.  (First  Series,  1859- 1868.)  By  Henry  Parry 
Liddon,  D.D.,  D.C.L.,  Canon  of  St.  Paul's,  and  Ireland 
Professor  of  Exegesis  in  the  University  of  Oxford.  Sixth 
Edition.    Crown  8vo.  $s. 

CONTENTS. 

God  and  the  Soul— The  Law  of  Progress— The  Honour  of  Humanity— The 
Freedom  of  the  Spirit — Immortality — Humility  and  Action — The  Conflict 
of  Faith  with  undue  Exaltation  of  Intellect — Lessons  of  the  Holy  Manger 
— The  Divine  Victim — The  Risen  Life — Our  Lord's  Ascension,  the 
Church's  Gain — Faith  in  a  Holy  Ghost — The  Divine  Indwelling  a  motive 
to  Holiness. 

Some  Elements  of  Religion.  Lent 

Lectures.    By  Henry  Parry  Liddon,  D.D.,  D.C.L.,  Canon 
of  St.  Paul's,  and  Ireland  Professor  of  Exegesis  in  the  Univer- 
sity of  Oxford.    Second  Edition.    Crown  8vo.  $s. 
CONTENTS. 

The  Idea  of  Religion— God,  the  Object  of  Religion— The  Subject  of  Religion, 
the  Soul — The  Obstacle  to  Religion,  Sin— Prayer,  the  Characteristic 
action  of  Religion — The  Mediator,  the  Guarantee  of  Religious  Life. 


Waterloo  Place,  Honoon 


Sermons 


5i 


The  Divinity  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour 

Jesus  Christ.  Being  the  Bampton  Lectures  for  1866. 
By  Henry  Parry  Liddon,  D.D.,  D.C.L.,  Canon  of  St. 
Paul's,  and  Ireland  Professor  of  Exegesis  in  the  University  of 
Oxford.    Eighth  Edition.    Crown  8vo.  $s. 

Church  Doctrine  and  Spiritual  Life. 

Sermons  preached  in  the  Chapel  of  Lincoln's  Inn.  By  F.  C. 
Cook,  M.A.,  Chaplain  in  Ordinary  to  the  Queen,  Canon  of 
Exeter,  Preacher  to  the  Honourable  Society  of  Lincoln's  Inn. 
Crown  8vo.    ys.  6d. 

CONTENTS. 

The  Law  given  by  Moses— Grace  and  Truth  in  Jesus  Christ — Baptismal  Fire — 
Baptism  in  One  Body — Hidden  Life — The  Manifested  Life — Sabbatic 
Rest — The  Dignity  of  Prayer — The  Efficacy  of  Prayer — Unity  of  the 
Church — Christ  Draweth  all  Men — Spiritual  Resurrection — The  Past 
Required — The  Intermediate  State — Ministering  Spirits — The  Holy  Spirit 
as  Reprover — The  Holy  Trinity — Testimony  of  the  Church  in  the 
Athanasian  Creed — First  Meeting  of  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul  at  Jerusalem 
— Clement  of  Rome,  Witness  to  the  Faith  of  the  Early  Church — Justin 
Martyr,  Witness  to  the  Power  of  Life  in  the  Early  Church — Justin  Martyr, 
Witness  to  the  Gospels  and  to  Eucharistic  Worship — Justin  Martyr,  Witness 
to  Eucharistic  Doctrine — St.  Athanasius,  Witness  to  the  Permanency  of 
Eucharistic  Doctrine — Hilary  of  Poictiers,  Witness  to  the  Unity  of  Doc- 
trine and  of  Spiritual  Life  in  the  Early  Church. 

Pleadings  for  Christ.    Being  Sermons, 

Doctrinal  and  Practical,  preached  in  St.  Andrew's  Church, 
Liverpool.  By  William  Lefroy,  M.  A. ,  Incumbent.  Crown 
8vo.  6s. 

Warnings  of  the  Holy  Week,  &c.  Being 

a  Course  of  Parochial  Lectures  for  the  Week  before  Easter 
and  the  Easter  Festivals.  By  the  Rev.  W.  Adams,  M.A., 
Author  of  "  Sacred  Allegories,"  &c.  Seventh  Edition. 
Small  8vo.    4s.  6d. 

CONTENTS. 

The  Warning  given  at  Bethany— The  Warning  of  the  Day  of  Excitement— The 
Warning  of  the  Day  of  Chastisement— The  Warning  of  the  Fig  Tree— The 
Warning  of  Judas— The  Warning  of  Pilate— The  Warning  of  the  Day  of 
Rest— The  Signs  of  Our  Lord's  Presence— The  Remedy  for  Anxious 
Thoughts— Comfort  under  Despondency. 


atrti  at  ©xforb  anb  Gramfctttrge 


5* 


Rivington's  Select  Catalogue 


Sermons  on  the  Epistles  and  Gospels 

for  the  Sundays  and  Holy  Days  throughout  the  Year.  By  the 
Rev.  Isaac  Williams,  B.D.,  Author  of  a  "  Devotional  Com- 
mentary on  the  Gospel  Narrative."  New  Edition.  2  Vols. 
Crown  8vo.    $s.  each.    Sold  separately. 


CONTENTS  OF  VOL.  I. 

The  King  of  Salem — The  Scriptures  bearing  Witness — The  Church  bearing 
Witness — The  Spirit  bearing  Witness — The  Adoption  of  Sons — Love 
strong  as  Death — The  Love  which  passeth  Knowledge — Of  such  is  the 
Kingdom  of  Heaven — The  Spirit  of  Adoption — The  Old  and  the  New 
Man — The  Day  Star  in  the  Heart — Obedience  the  best  Sacrifice — The 
Meekness  and  Gentleness  of  Christ  —  The  Faith  that  overcometh  the 
World — Our  Refuge  in  Public  Troubles — Light  and  Safety  in  Love — 
The  Great  Manifestation — Perseverance  found  in  Humility —  Bringing 
forth  Fruit  with  Patience — The  most  excellent  Gift — The  Call  to  Re- 
pentance— The  accepted  Time — Perseverance  in  Prayer — The  Unclean 
Spirit  returning — The  Penitent  refreshed— Our  Life  in  the  Knowledge 
of  God— The  Mind  of  Christ— The  Triumph  of  the  Cross— The  Man  of 
Sorrows — The  Great  Sacrifice — The  Memorial  of  the  Great  Sacrifice — 
The  Fulfilment— Buried  with  Christ— The  Power  of  Christ  risen— Walk- 
ing in  Newness  of  Life — Belief  in  the  Resurrection  of  Christ — The  Faith 
that  overcometh  the  World — Following  the  Lamb  of  God — A  little  while 
— The  Giver  of  all  Good — Requisites  of  effectual  Prayer — Ascending 
with  Christ — The  Days  of  Expectation — They  shall  walk  with  Me  in 
White — The  Holy  Spirit  and  Baptism — Let  all  Things  be  done  in  order. 


CONTENTS  OF  VOL.  II. 

The  Door  opened  in  Heaven— Love  the  mark  of  God's  Children— The  Gospel  a 
Feast  of  Love — The  Lost  Sheep — Mercy  the  best  preparation  for  Judg- 
ment— The  peaceable  ordering  of  the  World — Brotherly  Love  and  the  Life 
in  Christ— The  Bread  which  God  giveth— By  their  Fruits  ye  shall  know 
them — Looking  forward,  or  Divine  Covetousness— The  Day  of  Visitation— 
The  Prayer  of  the  Penitent — Weakness  of  Faith— Love  the  fulfilling  of  the 
Law— Thankfulness  the  Life  of  the  Regenerate— My  Beloved  is  Mine  and 
I  am  His — The  Knowledge  which  is  Life  Eternal— The  Sabbath  of  Christ 
found  in  Meekness— Christ  is  on  the  Right  Hand  of  God— The  Forgive- 
ness of  Sins— Love  and  Joy  in  the  Spirit — The  Warfare  and  the  Armour  of 
Saints— The  Love  of  Christians— The  Earthly  and  Heavenly  Citizenship- 
Mutual  Intercessions— Gleanings  after  Harvest — Bringing  unto  Christ — 
Slowness  in  believing— Grace  not  given  in  Vain— The  Refiner's  Fire— The 
Lost  Crown— Faith  in  the  Incarnation— Value  of  an  Inspired  Gospel— The 
severe  and  social  Virtues— Go  and  do  thou  likewise— Joy  at  hearing  the 
Bridegroom's  Voice— The  Strength  of  God  in  Man's  Weakness— Hidden 
with  Christ  in  God— Do  good,  hoping  for  nothing  again— The  good  ex- 
change—War in  Heaven— Healing  and  Peace— The  Sacrament  of  Union— 
They  which  shall  be  accounted  Worthy. 


Waterloo  Place,  Hotitum 


Sermons 


53 


Selection,  adapted  to  the  Seasons  of 

the  Ecclesiastical  Year,  from  the  "Parochial  and  Plain  Ser- 
mons" of  John  Henry  Newman,  B.D.,  sometime  Vicar  of 
St.  Mary's,  Oxford.    Edited  by  the  Rev.  VST.  J.  Copeland, 
B.D.,  Rector  of  Farnham,  Essex.    CrouTi  8vo.  55. 
CONTENTS. 

Advent: — Self-denial  the  Test  of  Religious  Earnestness — Divine  Calls — The 
Ventures  of  Faith — Watching.    Christmas  Day: — Religious  Joy.  New 
Year's  Sunday: — The  Lapse  of  Time.    Epiphany : — Remembrance  of 
Past   Mercies — Equanimity — The   Immortality  of  the   Soul — Christian 
Manhood — Sincerity  and   Hypocrisy  —  Christian   Sympathy.  Septua- 
gesima: — Present  Blessings.    Sexagesima: — Endurance  the  Christian's 
Portion.    Quinquagesirna : — Love  the  One  Thing  Needful.    Lent: — The 
Individuality  of  the  Soul — Life  the  Season  of  Repentance — Bodily  Suffer- 
ing— Tears  of  Christ  at  the  Grave  of  Lazarus  —  Christ's  Privations  a 
Meditation  for  Christians— The  Cross  of  Christ  the  Measure  of  the  World. 
Good  Friday  : — The  Crucifixion.     Easter  Day : — Keeping   Fast  and 
Festival.    Easter-Tide : — Witnesses  of  the  Resurrection — A  Particular 
Providence  as  Revealed  in  the  Gospel — Christ  Manifested  in  Remembrance 
— The  Invisible  World — Waiting  for  Christ.     A scension  .-—Warfare  the 
Condition  of  Victory.    Sunday  after  Ascension: — Rising  with  Christ. 
Whitsunday  :  —  The    Weapons   of  Saints.       Trinity]  Sunday  :  —  The 
Mysteriousness  of  our  Present  Being.    Sundays  after  Trinity  : — Holiness 
Necessary  for  Future  Blessedness — The  Religious  Use  of  Excited  Feel- 
ings—The Self-wise  Inquirer — Scripture  a  Record  of  Human  Sorrow — 
The  Danger  of  Riches — Obedience  without  Love,  as  instanced  in  the 
Character  of  Balaam — Moral  Consequences  of  Single  Sins — The  Greatness 
and  Littleness  of  Human  Life — Moral  Effects  of  Communion  with  God — 
The  Thought  of  God  the  Stay  of  the  Soul— The  Power  of  the  Will— The 
Gospel  Palaces — Religion  a  Weariness  to  the  Natural  Man — The  World 
our  Enemy — The  Praise  of  Man — Religion  Pleasant  to  the  Religious — 
Mental  Prayer — Curiosity  a  Temptation  to  Sin — Miracles  no  Remedy  for 
Unbelief — Jeremiah  :  a  Lesson  for  the  Disappointed — The  Shepherd  of 
our  Souls — Doing  Glory  of  God  in  Pursuits  of  the  World. 
' '  TJie  selection  has  been  made  with    ous  ;  and  tJiese  sermons,  composed  in  the 
great  judgment,    and    the    volume,    vigour  of  his  years,  are  marked  -with 
•which  is  daintily  printed,  has  thus  a    the  rarest  grandeur  and  breadth  of 
very  special  value." — Church  Times.     thought,  and  can  be  read  with  profit 
"  The  publishers  of  the  present  vol-    and  pleasure  by  all,  the  religious  for 
ume  have  gathered  together  in  a  cheap    their  profound  piety ,  and  by  the  student 
and  convenient  forin  a  series  of  Dr.    oj  English  for  their  purity  of  diction. 
Newman's  earliest  sermons,  preaclied   — Morning  Post. 

before  he  entered  the  Latin  Church.  "  Those  who,  like  ourselves,  have 
These  sermons  are,  of  course,  masterly,  long  used  and  valued  tJie  eight  volumes 
and,  as  they  are  net  doctrinal,  can  be  of  Dr.  N<rzcmau's  Parochial  Sermons, 
read  with  profit  and  pleasure  by  those  will  be  first  to  rejoice  that  a'  Selection ' 
wlio  belong  to  the  past  as  well  as  to  of  about  fifty  sermons  has  been  made, 
the  present  creed  of  the  learned  doctor,  and  issued  in  a  handsome  volume'' 
The  selection  consists,  with  few  ex-  — Literary  Churchman. 
ceptions,  of  sermons  for  the  most  im-  '''Most  of  the  subjects  treated  of  are 
portant  Church  Festivals  of  tJie  Year,  practical,  and  it  is  not  necessary  to  say 
and  will  be  found  admirably  adapted  how  tliey  are  treated  by  such  a  master 
for  reading  in  tJie  various  seasons  as  as  John  Henry  Newman.  It  is  but 
tliey  pass.  To  praise  the  noble  lan-  fair  to  add  that  the  selection  seems  to 
guage  of  Dr.Ne?uman, an  acknowledged  keep  steadily  clear  of  matter  suggestive 
master  of  English,  would  be  superflu-  of  polemics." — Freeman's  Journal. 


anti  at  ©ifortJ  atrti  Cambrfoge 


54  Rivington's  Select  Catalogue 


Parochial  and  Plain  Sermons.  By  John 

Henry  Newman,  B.D.,  formerly  Vicar  of  St.  Mary's,  Oxford. 
Edited  by  the  Rev.  W.  J.  Copeland,  B.D.,  Rector  of 
Farnham,  Essex.  New  Edition.  8  Vols.  Crown  8vo.  $s. 
each.    Sold  separately. 

CONTENTS  OF  VOL.  I. 

Holiness  necessary  for  Future  Blessedness-  The  Immortality  of  the  Soul- 
Knowledge  of  God's  Will  without  Obedience — Secret  Truths — Self-denial 
the  Test  of  Religious  Earnestness — The  Spiritual  Mind— Sins  of  Ignorance 
and  Weakness — God's  Commandments  not  grievous — The  Religious  use 
of  exalted  Feelings — Profession  without  Practice — Profession  without 
Hypocrisy — Profession  without  Ostentation — Promising  without  Doing — 
Religious  Emotion — Religious  Faith  Rational — The  Christian  Mysteries — 
The  Self-wise  Inquirer — Obedience  the  Remedy  for  Religious  Perplexity 
— Times  of  Private  Prayer — Forms  of  Private  Prayer — The  Resurrection 
of  the  Body — Witnesses  of  the  Resurrection — Christian  Reverence — The 
Religion  of  the  Day — Scripture  a  Record  of  Human  Sorrow — Christian 
Manhood. 

CONTENTS  OF  VOL.  II. 

The  World's  Benefactors— Faith  without  Sight— The  Incarnation— Martyrdom 
— Love  of  Relations  and  Friends — The  Mind  of  Little  Children — Cere- 
monies of  the  Church— The  Glory  of  the  Christian  Church — His  Conver- 
sion viewed  in  Reference  to  His  Office — Secrecy  and  Suddenness  of  Divine 
Visitations — Divine  Decrees — The  Reverence  due  to  Her — Christ,  a 
Quickening  Spirit — Saving  Knowledge — Self-contemplation — Religious 
Cowardice — The  Gospel  Witnesses— Mysteries  in  Religion — The  Indwell- 
ing Spirit — The  Kingdom  of  the  Saints — The  Gospel,  a  Trust  committed 
to  us — Tolerance  of  Religious  Error — Rebuking  Sin — The  Christian 
Ministry — Human  Responsibility — Guilelessness — The  Danger  of  Riches — 
The  Powers  of  Nature — The  Danger  of  Accomplishments — Christian  Zeal 
— Use  of  Saints'  Days. 

CONTENTS  OF  VOL.  III. 

Abraham  and  Lot — Wilfulness  of  Israel  in  rejecting  Samuel — Saul — Early  years 
of  David— Jeroboam— Faith  and  Obedience— Christian  Repentance- 
Contracted  Views  in  Religion — A  particular  Providence  as  revealed  in 
the  Gospel— Tears  of  Christ  at  the  Grave  of  Lazarus — Bodily  Suffering— 
The  Humiliation  of  the  Eternal  Son — Jewish  Zeal  a  Pattern  to  Christians 
— Submission  to  Church  Authority— Contest  between  Truth  and  False- 
hood in  the  Church — The  Church  Visible  and  Invisible — The  Visible 
Church  an  Encouragement  to  Faith — The  Gift  of  the  Spirit — Regenerating 
Baptism— Infant  Baptism — The  Daily  Service— The  Good  Part  of  Mary- 
Religious  Worship  a  Remedy  for  Excitements — Intercession — The  Inter- 
mediate State. 

CONTENTS  OF  VOL.  IV. 

The  Strictness  of  the  Law  of  Christ— Obedience  without  Love,  as  instanced  in 
the  Character  of  Balaam — Moral  Consequences  of  Single  Sins — Accept- 
ance of  Religious  Privileges  compulsory— Reliance  on  Religious  Observ- 
ances— The  Individuality  of  the  Soul — Chastisement  amid  Mercy — Peace 
and  Joy  amid  Chastisement— The  State  of  Grace— The  Visible  Church 
for  the  sake  of  the  Elect — The  Communion  of  Saints — The  Church  a 


WLuUtloo  Place,  SLontwn 


Sermons 


55 


NEWMAN'S  PAROCHIAL  AND  PLAIN  SERMONS— 
Continued. 

Home  for  the  Lonely — The  Iiwisible  World — The  Greatness  and  Little- 
ness of  Human  Life — Moral  Effects  of  Communion  with  God — Christ 
Hidden  from  the  World — Christ  Manifested  in  Remembrance — The  Gain- 
saying of  Korah — The  Mysteriousness  of  our  Present  Being — The  Ventures 
of  Faith — Faith  and  Love — Watching — Keeping  Fast  and  Festival. 

CONTENTS  OF  VOL.  V. 

Worship,  a  Preparation  for  Christ's  Coming— Reverence,  a  Belief  in  God's 
Presence — Unreal  Words — Shrinking  from  Christ's  Coming — Equanimity — 
Remembrance  of  past  Mercies— The  Mystery  of  Godliness— The  State  of 
Innocence — Christian  Sympathy — Righteousness  not  of  us,  but  in  us — The 
Law  of  the  Spirit— The  New  Works  of  the  Gospel— The  State  of  Salva- 
tion— Transgressions  and  Infirmities— Sins  of  Infirmity — Sincerity  and 
Hypocrisy — The  Testimony  of  Conscience — Many  called,  few  chosen — 
Present  Blessings — Endurance,  the  Christian's  portion — Affliction  a  School 
of  Comfort — The  thought  of  God,  the  stay  of  the  Soul — Love  the  one  thing 
needful— The  Power  of  the  Will. 

CONTENTS  OF  VOL.  VI. 

Fasting,  a  Source  of  Trial — Life,  the  Season  of  Repentance — Apostolic  Absti- 
nence, a  Pattern  for  Christians — Christ's  Privations,  a  Meditation  for 
Christians — Christ  the  Son  of  God  made  Man — The  Incarnate  Son,  a 
Sufferer  and  Sacrifice — The  Cross  of  Christ  the  Measure  of  the  World — 
Difficulty  of  realizing  Sacred  Privileges — The  Gospel  Sign  addressed  to 
Faith— The  Spiritual  Presence  of  Christ  in  the  Church — The  Eucharistic 
Presence — Faith  the  Title  for  Justification — Judaism  of  the  present  day — 
The  Fellowship  of  the  Apostles— Rising  with  Christ— Warfare  the  Condi- 
tion of  Victory — Waiting  for  Christ — Subjection  of  the  Reason  and  Feel- 
ings to  the  Revealed  Word— The  Gospel  Palaces— The  Visible  Temple- 
Offerings  for  the  Sanctuary — The  Weapons  of  Saints — Faith  without 
Demonstration — The  Mystery  of  the  Holy  Trinity — Peace  in  Believing. 

CONTENTS  OF  VOL.  VII. 

The  Lapse  of  Time — Religion,  a  Weariness  to  the  Natural  Man— The  World 
our  Enemy — The  Praise  of  Men — Temporal  Advantages — The  Season  of 
Epiphany— The  Duty  of  Self-denial— The  Yoke  of  Christ— Moses  the 
Type  of  Christ— The  Crucifixion — Attendance  on  Holy  Communion— 
The  Gospel  Feast — Love  of  Religion,  a  new  Nature— Religion  pleasant 
to  the  Religious — Mental  Prayer— Infant  Baptism— The  Unity  of  the 
Church — Steadfastness  in  the  Old  Paths. 

CONTENTS  OF  VOL.  VIII. 

Reverence  in  Worship— Divine  Calls— The  Trial  of  Saul— The  Call  of  David- 
Curiosity  a  Temptation  to  Sin — Miracles  no  remedy  for  Unbelief— Josiah, 
a  Pattern  for  the  Ignorant— Inward  Witness  to  the  Truth  of  the  Gospel- 
Jeremiah,  a  Lesson  for  the  Disappointed — Endurance  of  the  World's  Cen- 
sure—Doing Glory  to  God  in  Pursuits  of  the  World— Vanity  of  Human 
Glory— Truth  hidden  when  not  sought  after— Obedience  to  God  the  Way 
to  Faith  in  Christ — Sudden  Conversions— The  Shepherd  of  our  Souls — 
Religious  Joy — Ignorance  of  Evil. 


anto  at  ©ifoxti  anti  (EambritJse 


56  Rivington's  Select  Catalogue 


Lectures  on  the  Doctrine  of  Justifica- 
tion. By  John  Henry  Newman,  B.D.,  sometime  Fellow 
of  Oriel  College,  Oxford.    New  Edition.    Crown  8vo.  $s. 

CONTENTS. 

Faith  considered  as  the  Instrument  of  Justification— Love  considered  as  the 
Formal  Cause  of  Justification — Primary  Sense  of  the  term  Justification — 
Secondary  Senses  of  the  term  Justification— Misuse  of  the  term  Just  or 
Righteous— On  the  Gift  of  Righteousness — The  Characteristics  of  the 
Gift  of  Righteousness — Righteousness  viewed  as  a  Gift  and  as  a  Quality — 
Righteousness  the  Fruit  of  our  Lord's  Resurrection — The  Office  of  Justify- 
ing Faith — The  Nature  of  Justifying  Faith — Faith  viewed  relatively  to 
Rites  and  Works— On  preaching  the  Gospel— Appendix. 


Sermons  Bearing  upon  Subjects  of  the 

Day.  By  John  Henry  Newman,  B.D.,  sometime  Fellow 
of  Oriel  College,  Oxford.  Edited  by  the  Rev.  W.  J. 
Copeland,  B.D.,  Rector  of  Farnham,  Essex.  New  Edition, 
Crown  8vo.  5.r. 

CONTENTS. 

The  Work  of  the  Christian — Saintliness  not  forfeited  by  the  Penitent — Our 
Lord's  Last  Supper  and  His  First — Dangers  to  the  Penitent — The  Three 
Offices  of  Christ — Faith  and  Experience — Faith  and  the  World — The 
Church  and  the  World — Indulgence  in  Religious  Privileges — Connection 
between  Personal  and  Public  Improvement — Christian  Nobleness — Joshua, 
a  Type  of  Christ  and  His  Followers — Elisha,  a  Type  of  Christ  and  His 
Followers — The  Christian  Church  a  continuation  of  the  Jewish — The 
Principle  of  continuity  between  the  Jewish  and  Christian  Churches — The 
Christian  Church  an  Imperial  Power — Sanctity  the  Token  of  the  Christian 
Empire — Condition  of  the  Members  of  the  Christian  Empire — The  Apos- 
tolical Christian — Wisdom  and  Innocence — Invisible  Presence  of  Christ — 
Outward  and  Inward  Notes  of  the  Church — Grounds  for  Steadfastness  in 
our  Religious  Profession — Elijah  the  Prophet  of  the  Latter  Days — Feast- 
ing in  Captivity— The  Parting  of  Friends. 


Fifteen  Sermons  preached  before  the 

University  of  Oxford,  between  a.d.  1826  and  1843.  By  John 
Henry  Newman,  B.D.,  sometime  Fellow  of  Oriel  College, 
Oxford.    New  Edition.    Crown  8vo.  $s. 

CONTENTS. 

The  Philosophical  Temper  first  enjoined  by  the  Gospel — The  Influence  of  Natura 
and  Revealed  Religion  respectively — Evangelical  Sanctity  the  Perfection 
of  Natural  Virtue — The  Usurpations  of  Reason — Personal  Influence,  the 
means  of  Propagating  the  Truth — Our  Justice,  as  a  Principle  of  Divine 
Governance — Contest  between  Faith  and  Light — Human  Responsibility, 
as  Independent  of  Circumstances — Wilfulness  the  Sin  of  Saul — Faith  and 
Reason,  contrasted  as  Habits  of  Mind — The  Nature  of  Faith  in  Relation 
to  Reason — Love  the  Safeguard  of  Faith  against  Superstition —  Implicit 
and  Explicit  Reason — Wisdom,  as  contrasted  with  Faith  and  with  Bigotry 
— The  Theory  of  Developments  in  Religious  Doctrine. 


OEat£tlo0  Place,  Hcrttum 


Sermons 


57 


The  Catholic  Sacrifice.  Sermons  Preached 

at  All  Saints,  Margaret  Street.  By  the  Rev.  Berdmore 
Compton,  M.  A.,  Vicar  of  All  Saints,  Margaret  Street.  Crown 
8vo.  $s. 

CONTENTS. 

The  Eucharistic  Life— The  Sacrifice  of  Sweet  Savour— The  Pure  Offering— 
The  Catholic  Oblation— The  Sacrificial  Feast— The  Preparation  for  the 
Eucharist — The  Introductory  Office — The  Canon — Degrees  of  Apprehen- 
sion—The Fascination  of  Christ  Crucified — The  Shewbread — Consecra- 
tion of  Worship  and  Work — Water,  Elood,  Wine — The  Blood  of  Sprinkling 
— The  Mystery  of  Sacraments— The  Oblation  of  Gethsemane — Offertory 
and  Tribute  Money. 

The  Sayings  of  the  Great  Forty  Days, 

between  the  Resurrection  and  Ascension,  regarded  as  the 
Outlines  of  the  Kingdom  of  God.  In  Five  Discourses.  With 
an  Examination  of  Dr.  Newman's  Theory  of  Development. 
By  George  Moberly,  D.C.L.,  Bishop  of  Salisbury.  Fifth 
Edition.    Crown  8vo.  $s. 

Plain  Sermons,  preached  at  Brighstone. 

By  George  Moberly,  D.C.L.,  Bishop  of  Salisbury.  Third 
Edition.    Crown  8vo.  $s. 

CONTENTS. 

Except  a  Man  be  Born  again— The  Lord  with  the  Doctors— The  Draw-Net— 
will  lay  me  down  in  Peace — Ye  have  not  so  learned  Christ — Trinity 
Sunday — My  Flesh  is  Meat  indeed — The  Corn  of  Wheat  dying  and  multi- 
plied—The  Seed  Corn  springing  to  new  Life— I  am  the  Way,  the  Truth, 
and  the  Life — The  Ruler  of  the  Sea — Stewards  of  the  Mysteries  of  God — 
Ephphatha— The  Widow  of  Nain— Josiah's  Discovery  of  the  Law— The 
Invisible  World  :  Angels — Prayers,  especially  Daily  Prayers — They  all  with 
one  consent  began  to  make  excuse — Ascension  Day— The  Comforter — The 
Tokens  of  the  Spirit — Elijah's  Warning,  Fathers  and  Children — Thou 
shalt  see  them  no  more  for  ever — Baskets  full  of  Fragments — Harvest — The 
Marriage  Supper  of  the  Lamb — The  Last  Judgment. 

Sermons  preached  at  Winchester  Col- 
lege. By  George  Moberly,  D.C.L.,  Bishop  of  Salisbury. 
2  Vols.    Small  8vo.    6s.  6d.  each.    Sold  separately. 


anto  at  ©xiottJ  anti  &amfjrfage 


58  Rivington's  Select  Catalogue 


Sermons,   Parochial  and  Occasional. 

By  J.  B.  Mozley,  D.D.,  late  Canon  of  Christ  Church,  and 
Regius  Professor  of  Divinity  in  the  University  of  Oxford. 
Crown  8vo.     Js.  6d. 

CONTENTS. 

The  Right  Eye  and  the  Right  Hand — Temptation  treated  as  Opportunity — The 
Influences  of  Habit  on  Devotion — Thought  for  the  Morrow — The  Relief  of 
Utterance — Seeking  a  Sign — David  Numbering  the  People — The  Heroism 
of  Faith — Proverbs — The   Teaching  of  Events — Growing  Worse — Our 
Lord  the  Sacrifice  for  Sin — -The  Parable  of  the  Sower — The  Religious  En- 
joyment of  Nature — The  Threefold  Office  of  the  Holy  Spirit — Wisdom 
and  Folly  Tested  by  Experience— Moses,  a  Leader — The  Unjust  Steward 
— Sowing  to  the  Spirit — True  Religion  a  Manifestation — St.  Paul's  Exal- 
tation of  Labour — Jeremiah's  Witness  against  Idolatry — Isaiah's  Estimate 
of  Worldly  Greatness — The  Shortness]of  Life — The  Endless  State  of  Being 
— The  Witness  of  the  Apostles — Life  a  Probation — Christian  Mysteries 
the  Common  Heritage — Our  Lord's  Hour— Fear — The  Educating  Power 
of  Strong  Impressions— The  Secret  Justice  of  Temporal  Providence —  . 
Jacob  as  a  Prince  Prevailing  with  God. 
"  His  sermons  are  the  solemn  and  by  all  such  this  further  instalment  of 
piercing  reflections  of  a  man  who   Dr.  Mozley  s  sermons  will  be  wel- 
inteutly  scrutinizes   the  world  and  corned.    They  will  be  of  great  use  to 
God's  dealings  with  it  for  the  spiritual  the  clergy  in  the  preparation  of  their 
benefit  of  himself  and  others.     The   own  discourses ;  they  will  be  of  still 
poetry  of  his  sermons  is  unsought  for,  greater  use  to  them  if  read  and  studied 
and  results,  where  it  exists,  from  a  privately  by  way  of  mental  discipline."1 
desire  to  give  adequate  expression  to  — Literary  Churchman. 
an  intense  appreciation  of  what  is  in       "We  may  say  at  once,  ani  after 
itself  elevated  and  astonishing;  and  reading  nearly  every  page  of  it,  that 
if  he  is  thus  lifted  into  simile  or  meta-   there  is  not  one  sermon  here  devoid  of 
phor,  it  is  because  he  is  at  a  loss  to   interest,  and  there  is  not  one  which 
convey  in  any  other  way  the  height  or  does  not  bear  the  same  stamp  which 
det>th  or  breadth  of  what  he  sees." —   was  impressed  upon  the  great  Univer- 

Guardian.  sity  Series  No  man  can  read 

"  All who  have  read  the  1  University  these  sermons  without  feeling  his  con- 
Sermons,'  or  the  volume  entitled  the  science  stirred  and  cleared,  and  if  he 
"  Ruli?ig  Ideas  as  in  the  Eaily  Ages,'  has  any  good  in  hitn,  without  feeling 
of  the  late  Dr.  Mozley ,  are  aware  with  his  will  braced  for  fresh  efforts," — 
what  unusual  profundity  and  origin-  Church  Bells. 
ality  of  thought  they  are  marked ;  and 

Seven    Addresses    delivered   at  S. 

Paul's  Cathedral  at  the  Mid-Day  Service,  Good  Friday,  1879. 
By  V.  S.  S.  Coles,  M.A.,  Rector  of  Shepton  Beauchamp. 
Small  8vo.  is. 

CONTENTS. 

Forgiveness  of  Sin,  the  First  Great  Need — True  Prayer,  the  Means  of  Forgive- 
ness— Privilege  of  Forgiven  Souls— Suffering  of  the  Human  Soul — Suffer- 
ing of  the  Human  Body — Perseverance  in  Effort — Trust  in  God. 


Waterloo  $la«,  ILontwn 


Sermons 


59 


Sermons  preached  before  the  Uni- 
versity of  Oxford,  and  on  various  occasions.  By  J.  B.  Mozley, 
D.D.,  late  Canon  of  Christ  Church,  and  Regius  Professor 
of  Divinity,  Oxford.    Fourth  Edition.    Crown  8vo.    Js.  6d. 

CONTENTS. 

The  Roman  Council— The  Pharisees— Eternal  Life — The  Reversal  of  Human 
Judgment— War— Nature— The  Work  of  the  Spirit  on  the  Natural  Man 
— The  Atonement — Our  Duty  to  Equals — The  Peaceful  Temper — The 
Strength  of  Wishes — The  unspoken  Judgment  of  Mankind — The  true  test 
of  Spiritual  Birth — Ascension  Day — Gratitude — The  Principle  of  Emula- 
tion— Religion  the  First  Choice — The  Influence  of  Dogmatic  Teaching  on 
Education. 

"  There  are  sermons  in  it  which,  for  "  A  new  gleam  of  religious  genius, 
penetrating  insight  into  the  mysteries  .  .  .  Keen  simplicity  atid  reality  in 
and  anomalies  of  human  c/iaracter,  t/ie  way  of  putting  things  is  character- 
its  power  of  holding  together  strange  istic  of  these  sermons  of  Dr.  Mozley 's, 
opposites,  its  capacity  for  combination,  but  not  less  characteristic  of  them — 
for  disguise,  and  unconscious  transfor-  and  this  is  what  sJiows  that  the  Chris- 
mation,  are  as  wonderful,  it  may  tian  faith  has  in  him  appealed  to  a 
almost  be  said  as  terrible,  in  their  certain,  original  faculty  of  the  kind 
revelations  and  suggestions  as  are  to  which  we  call ' genius' — is  the  iustiuc- 
be  fou?id  anywhere.  TJiere  are  four  tive  sympathy  which  he  seems  to  have 
sermons,  one  on  the  '  Pharisees,'  one  on  with  the  subtler  shades  of  Christ's 
'Eternal  Life,'  one  on  the  'Reversal  teaching,  so  as  to  make  it  suddenly 
of  Human  Judgment'  the  fourth  on  seem  new  to  us,  as  well  as  more  won- 
the  'Unspoken  Judgment  of  Man-  derful  than  e?-er." — Spectator. 
kind,'  which  must  almost  make  an  "  The  volume  possesses  intrinsic 
epoch  in  t)ie  thoitght  and  history  of  merits  so  remarkable  as  to  be  almost 
any  one  w/io  reads  tliem  and  really  unique.  .  .  .  There  is  scarcely  a  ser- 
takes  in  what  they  say.  TJiere  is  in  mon  in  it  which  does  not  possess  elo- 
them  a  kind  of  Shakspeariau  mixture  qtcence,  in  a  very  true  sense,  of  a  high 
of  subtlety  of  remark  with  boldness  and  order.  But  it  is  the  eloquence  not  so 
directness  of  phrase,  and  with  a  grave,  much  of  language  as  of  thought.  It 
pathetic  irony,  which  is  not  often  cha-  is  tJie  eloquence  of  concentration,  of 
racteristic  of  such  compositions." —  vigorous  grasp,  of  delicate  irony,  of 
Times.  deep  but  subdued  pathos,  of  subtle  deli- 

"  T/iese  are  unusually  remarkable  cacy  of  touch,  of  broad  strong  sense; 
sermons.  They  are  addressed  to  edu-  it  impresses  t/ie  mind  ratlier  than 
cated,  reflective,  and,  in  some  cases,  strikes  the  ear.  We  cannot  help  feel- 
philosophical  readers,  and  they  exhibit,  ing,  as  we  read,  not  only  t/iat  the 
by  turns  or  in  combination,  high  philo-  preacher  means  what  he  says,  but  that 
sophical power,  a  piercing  appreciation  he  has  taken  pains  to  think  out  his 
of  human  motives,  vivid  conceptions,  meaning,  and  has  applied  to  the  pro- 
and  a  great  power  of  clothing  those  cess  the  whole  energy  and  resources  of 
conceptions  in  the  language  of  tren-  no  common  i?itellect."  —  Saturday 
chant  aphorism,  or  lofty,  earnest  Review. 
poetry." — Guardian. 


atrti  at  ©xfottf  anti  Camfctftge 


6o  Rivington's  Select  Catalogue 


Sermons.    By  Henry  Melvill,  B.D.,  late 

Canon  of  St.  Paul's,  and  Chaplain  in  Ordinary  to  the  Queen. 
New  Edition.  2  Vols.   Crown  8vo.  $s.  each.  Sold  separately. 

CONTENTS  OF  VOL.  I. 

The  First  Prophecy— Christ  the  Minister  of  the  Church — The  Impossibility  of 
Creature-Merit — The  Humiliation  of  the  Man  Christ  Jesus — The  Doctrine 
of  the  Resurrection  viewed  in  connection  with  that  of  the  Soul's  Im- 
mortality— The  Power  of  Wickedness  and  Righteousness  to  reproduce 
themselves — The  Power  of  Religion  to  strengthen  the  Human  Intellect — 
The  Provision  made  by  God  for  the  Poor — St.  Paul,  a  Tent-Maker — The 
Advantages  of  a  state  of  Expectation — Truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus — The  Dif- 
ficulties of  Scripture. 

CONTENTS  OF  VOL.  II. 

Jacob's  Vision  and  Vow — The  continued  Agency  of  the  Father  and  the  Son — The 
Resurrection  of  Dry  Bones — Protestantism  and  Popery — Christianity  a 
Sword — The  Death  of  Moses — The  Ascension  of  Christ — The  Spirit  upon 
the  Waters — The  Proportion  of  Grace  to  Trial — Pleading  before  the  Moun- 
tains—Heaven—God's Way  in  the  Sanctuary. 

"  Every  one  who  can  remember  the  well-weighed  words,  calm  and  keen 

days  when  Canon  Melvill  was  the  logic,  and  solemn  devoutness,  mark 

preacher  of  the  day,  will  be  glad  to  see  the  whole  series  of  masterly  discourses, 

these  four-and-twenty  of  "his  sermons  so  which  embrace  some  of  the  chief  doc- 

mcely  reproduced.    His  Sermons  were  trines  of  the  Church,  and  set  them  forth 

all  the  result  of  real  study  and  genuine  in  clear  and  Scriptural  strength." — 

reading,  with far  more  theology  in  them  Standard. 

than  those  of  many  who  make  much  "  The  Sermons  abound  in  tliought, 

more  profession  of  theology.   Tliere  are  and  the  thoughts  are  coucheddn  English 

sermons  here  which  we  can  personally  which  is  at  once  elegant  in  construc- 

remember ;  it  has  been  a  pleasure  to  us  Hon  and   easy   to   read." — Church 

to  be  reminded  of  them,  and  we  are  Times. 

glad  to  see  them  brought  before  the  Pre-  ' '  Henry  Melvill 's  intellect  was  large, 

sent  generation.      We  hope  that  they  his  imagination  brilliant,  his  ardour 

may  be  studied,  for  they  deserve  it  intense,  and  his  style  strong,  fervid, 

thoroughly" — Literary  Churchman,  and  picturesque.    Often  he  seemed  to 

"The  Sermons  of  Canon  Melvill,  glow  with  tlie inspiration  of a  prophet." 

now  republished  in  two  handy  volumes,  — American  Quarterly  Church  Re- 

need  only  to  be  mentioned  to  be  sure  of  view. 
a  hearty  welcome.    Sound  learning, 


Lectures  delivered  at  St.  Margaret's, 

Lothbury.  By  Henry  Melvill,  B.D.,  late  Canon  of  St. 
Paul's,  and  Chaplain  in  Ordinary  to  the  Queen.  New  Edition. 
Crown  8vo.  5^. 

CONTENTS. 

The  Return  of  the  Dispossessed  Spirit — Honey  from  the  Rock — Easter— The 
Witness  in  Oneself— The.  Apocrypha— A   Man  a    Hiding-place— The 


Waterloo  Place,  Hontion 


Sermons 


61 


MELVILL'S  LOTHBURY  LECTURES — Contimied. 

Hundredfold  Recompense— The  Life  more  than  Meat— Isaiah's  Vision — 
St.  John  the  Baptist — Building  the  Tombs  of  the  Prophets — Manifestation 
of  the  Sons  of  God — St.  Paul's  Determination — The  Song  of  Moses  and 
the  Lamb — The  Divine  Longsuffering — Sowing  the  Seed — The  Great 
Multitude — The  Kinsman  Redeemer — St.  Barnabas — Spiritual  Decline. 


Sermons  on    Certain  of   the  Less 

Prominent  Facts  and  References  in  Sacred  Story.  By  Henry 
Melvill,  B.D.,  late  Canon  of  St.  Paul's,  and  Chaplain  in 
Ordinary  to  the  Queen .  New  Edition.  2  Vols.  Crown  8vo. 
5*.  each.    Sold  separately. 

CONTENTS  OF  VOL.  I. 
The  Faith  of  Joseph  on  his  Death-bed — Angels  as  Remembrancers — The  Burning 
of  the  Magical  Books— The  Parting  Hymn— Caesar's  Household — The 
Sleepless  Night— The  Well  of  Bethlehem— The  Thirst  of  Christ— The 
second  Delivery  of  the  Lord's  Prayer — Peculiarities  in  the  Miracle  in  the 
Coasts  of  Decapolis— The  Latter  Rain — The  Lowly  Errand— Nehemiah 
before  Artaxerxes — Jabez. 

CONTENTS  OF  VOL.  II. 
The  Young  Man  in  the  Linen  Cloth — The  Fire  on  the  Shore — The  Finding  the 
Guest-Chamber— The  Spectre's  Sermon  a  truism — Various  Opinions — The 
Misrepresentations  of  Eve— Seeking,  after  Finding — The  Bird's  Nest  — 
Angels  our  Guardians  in  trifles — The  appearance  of  failure — Simon  the 
Cyrenian — The  power  of  the  Eye — Pilate's  Wife — Examination  of  Cain. 

"  We  are  glad  to  see  this  new  edition  two  oftJiem  occupied  entirely  with  his 

of  what  we  have  always  considered  to  ser~mons  on  subjects  of  this  class — are 

be  Melvill's  best  sermons,  because  in  before  us.    His  preaching  was  unique, 

them  we  have  his  best  thoughts.  .  .  .  He  selected  for the  most  part  texts  that 

Many  of  these  sermons  are  the  strong-  are  not  frequently  treated,  and  when 

est  arguments  yet  adduced  for  internal  he  chose  those  of  a  more  ordi?iary  cfiar- 

evidence  of  the  veracity  of  the  Scrip-  acter,  he  generally  presented  them  in  a 

tural  narratives ." — Standard.  new  light,  and  elicited  from  them  some 

"  Unusually  interesting.  ....  truth  which  would  not  have  suggested 
No  one  can  read  these  sermons  without  itself  to  any  other  preacher.  He  was 
deriving  instruction  from  them,  with-  singularly  ingenious  in  some  of  his 
out  being  compelled  to  acknowledge  conceptions,  and  wonderfully  forcible 
that  new  light  has  been  cast  for  him  and  impressive  in  his  mode  of  develop- 
on  numerous  passages  of  Scripture,  ing  and  applying  them." — Noncon- 
which  he  must  henceforth  read  with  formist. 

greater  intelligence  and  greater  in-       "  TJie  publishers  of  these  well-known, 

terest    tJian     before.'" — Edinburgh  almost  classic  sermons,  have  conferred 

Courant.  a  boon  on  all  lovers  of  our  pulpit  liter- 

"  For    skill    in    developing    the  ature  by  this  beautiful,  portable  eaition 

significance  of  Vie     less  prominent  of  some  of  the  most  brilliant  u/id  origi- 

facts  of  Holy  Scripture '  no  one  could  nal  discourses  that  have  been  delivered 

compete  with  the  late  Canon  Melvill,  to  this  generation."— British  Quar- 

four  volumes   of  whose  discourses —  terly  Review. 


anti  at  (©xforfc  anfc  (£ambtttJfle 


62  Rivington's  Select  Catalogue 


Selection  from  the  Sermons  preached 

during  the  Latter  Years  of  his  Life,  in  the  Parish  Church  of 
Barnes,  and  in  the  Cathedral  of  St.  Paul's.  By  Henry 
Melvill,  B.D.,  late  Canon  of  St.  Paul's,  and  Chaplain  in 
Ordinary  to  the  Queen.  New  Edition.  2  Vols.  Crown  8vo. 
5s.  each.    Sold  separately. ; 

CONTENTS  OF  VOL.  I. 
The  Parity  of  the  consequences  of  Adam's  Transgression  and  Christ's  Death— 
The  Song  of  Simeon— The  Days  of  Old— Omissions  of  Scripture— The 
Madman  in  Sport — Peace,  Peace,  when  there  is  no  Peace — A  very  lovely 
Song— This  is  that  King  Ahaz— Ariel— New  Wine  and  Old  Bottles— 
Demas— Michael  and  the  Devil— The  Folly  of  Excessive  Labour— St. 
Paul  at  Philippi— Believing  a  Lie— The  Prodigal  Son— The  Foolishness 
of  Preaching— Knowledge  and  Sorrow— The  Unjust  Steward— The  Man 
born  blind. 

CONTENTS  OF  VOL.  II. 

Rejoicing  as  in  '  Spoil  —  Satan  a  Copyist  —  The  binding  the  Tares  into 
Bundles  —  Two  walking  together — Agreeing  with  the  Adversary — God 
speaking  to  Moses — Hoping  in  Mercy— Faith  as  a  Grain  of  Mustard 
Seed— Mary's  Recompense— War  in  Heaven— Glory  into  Shame— The 
Last  Judgment— Man  like  to  Vanity— God  so  Loved  the  World—  Saul— 
And  what  shall  this  Man  do?— The  Sickness  and  Death  of  Elisha— Abiding 
in  our.Callings — Trinity  Sunday. 

"  The    main    characteristics     of  Canon  Melvill 's  sermons  contain  forty 

Canon  Melvill  s  sermons  are  these—  discourses  preached  by  him  in  his  later 

they  are  not  polemical ;  the  odium  theo-  years,  and  they  are  prefaced  by  a  short 

logicum  is  nowhere  to  be found  in  them,  memoir  of  one  of  the  worthiest  and 

and  nowhere  is  the  spirit  of  true  Chrts-  most  impressive  preachers  of  recent 

tian  charity  and  love  absent  from  them,  times. " — Examiner. 

This  will  widen  their  usefulness,  for  "  Many  years  have  now  elapsed  since 

they  will  on  this  account  make  a  ready  we  first  heard  Henry  Melvill.  But 

way  amongst  all  sects  and  creeds  of  we  can  still  recall  the  text,  the  sermon, 

professing  Christians.     Again,  these  the  deep  impression  made  upon  us  by 

sermons  are  eminently  practical  and  the  impassioned  eloquence  of  the  great 

devotional  in  their  tone  and  aim.     The  preacher.    It  was  our  first,  and  very 

truths  here  proclaimed  pierce  the  Iteart  profitable  experience  of  what  influence 

to  its  very  core,  so  true  is  the  preacher's  there  resides  in  tJie  faithful  preaching 

aim,  so  vigorous  is  the  force  with  which  of  the  Gospel  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 

he  shoots  the  convictions  of  his  own  For  while  it  was  impossible  to  be  in- 

heart  into  the  hearts  of  his  hearers."  different  to  the  messenger,  yet  the 

—  Standard.  message  was  brought  home  by  him  to 

"  There  are  in  the  sermons  before  the  heart  and  to  the  conscience.    It  is 

us  all  MelvilFs  wonted  grace  of  die-  pleasant  in  these,  the  latest  sermons 

Hon,  strength  of  reasoning,  and  aptness  delivered  by  Mr.  Melvill,  to  find  the 

of  illustration. " — Weekly  Review.  same  faithful  utterance.  "—Christian 

"  Two  other  volumes  of  the  late  Observer. 


Waterloo  place,  Honoon 


Sermons 


63 


The  Life  of  Justification.    A  Series  of 

Lectures  delivered  in  Substance  at  All  Saints',  Margaret  Street. 
By  the  Rev.  George  Body,  B.A.,  Rector  of  Kirkby  Misper- 
ton.    Fifth  Edition.    Crown  8vo.    \s.  6d. 

CONTENTS. 

Justification  the  Want  of  Humility — Christ  our  Justification — Cnion  with  Christ 
the  Condition  of  Justification — Conversion  and  Justification — The  Life  of 
Justification — The  Progress  and  End  of  Justification. 

"On  the  whole  we  liave  rarely  met  into  tlie  current  language  of  to-day." 

with  a  more  clear,  intelligible  and per-  —  Union  Review. 

suasive  statement  of  the  truth  as  re-  "  There  is  real  power  in  tliese  ser- 
gards  the  important  topics  on  which  mons: — power,  real  power,  and  plenty 
the  volume  treats.  Sermon  11 '.  in  par-  of  it.  .  .  .  There  is  such  a  moral 
ticular,  will  strike  every  one  by  its  veraciousness  about  him,  such  a  pro- 
eloquence  and  beauty,  but  we  scarcely  foutid  and  oz'er-mastering  belief  that 
like  to  specify  it.  lest  in  praising  it  we  Christ  has  proved  a  bond-fide  cure  for 
should  seem  to  disparage  the  other  por-  unJwliness,  and  such  an  intensity  of 
tions  of  this  admirable  little  work." —  eagerness  to  lead  others  to  seek  and 
Church  Times.  profit  by  that  means  of  attaining  the 
"  These  discourses  show  that  their  true  sanctity  which  alone  can  enter 
author's  position  is  due  to  something  Heaven — that  we  wonder  not  at  the 
more  and  higher  t/ian  mere  fluency,  crowds  which  hang  upon  his  preaching, 
gesticulation,  and  flexibility  of  voice,  nor  at  the  success  of  his  fervid  appeals 
He  appears  as  having  drunk  deeply  to  the  human  conscience.  If  any  one 
at  the  fountain  of  St.  Augustine,  and  doubts  our  verdict,  let  him  buy  this 
as  understanding  how  to  translate  the  volume.  No  one  will  regret  its  per- 
burning  words  of  that  mighty  genius  usal." — Literarv  Churchman. 


The  Life  of  Temptation.    A  Course  of 

Lectures  delivered  in  Substance  at  St.  Peter's,  Eaton  Square  ; 
also  at  All  Saints',  Margaret  Street.  By  the  Rev.  George 
Body,  B.A.,  Rector  of  Kirkby  Misperton.  Fourth  Edition. 
Crown  Svo.    $s.  td. 

COXTENTS. 

The  Leading  into  Temptation — The  Rationale  of  Temptation — Why  we  are 
Tempted— Safety  in  Temptation— With  Jesus  in  Temptation— The  End  of 
Temptation. 

"  Regeneration  and  conversion  seem  earliest,  soul-stirring  words,  dealing 
here  to  occupy  tJieir  proper  places  in  tlie  with  tlie  mysteries  of  Christian  ex- 
Christian  economy,  and  the  general  perience." — London  Quarterly  Re- 
subject  of  temptation  is  worked  out  view. 

with  considerable  ability." — Church  "  A  collection  of  sermons,  pious, 
Times.  earnest,    and   eloquent."  —  English 

*'  This  is  another  volume  of  simple.  Churchman. 


artto  at  ©iforb  anti  Cambtftjgc 


64  Rivington's  Select  Catalogue 


Sermons  on  Special  Occasions.  By 

Daniel  Moore,  M.A.,  Chaplain  in  Ordinary  to  the  Queen, 
and  Vicar  of  Holy  Trinity,  Paddington.    Crown  8vo.    "js.  6d. 

CONTENTS. 

The  Words  of  Christ  imperishable — The  Gospel  Welcome — The  Conversion  of 
St.  Paul — The  Christian's  Mission — Business  and  Godliness — Soberness 
and  Watchfulness — The  Joy  of  the  Disciples  at  the  Resurrection — The 
Saviour's  Ascension— Jesus  in  the  Midst— The  Moral  Attractions  of  the 
Cross— The  Gospel  Workmen— The  Work  of  the  Holy  Spirit— The  Doc- 
trine of  the  Holy  Trinity — The  Law  of  Moral  Recompenses— The  Goodness 
of  King  Joash — The  Tenderness  of  Christ— Christ  our  Example  in  Youth 
— Jacob  in  Life  and  in  Death — The  Spiritual  Mind — Britain's  Obligations 
to  the  Gospel— The  Throne  in  Mourning— Prayer  and  Providence— The 
Unsearchableness  of  God. 

The  .  Age  and  the  Gospel ;  Four  Ser- 
mons preached  before  the  University  of  Cambridge,  at  the 
Hulsean  Lecture,  1864.  With  a  Discourse  on  Final  Retribu- 
tion. By  Daniel  Moore,  M.  A.,  Chaplain  in  Ordinary  to  the 
Queen,  and  Vicar  of  Holy  Trinity,  Paddington.    Crown  8vo. 

The  Mystery  of  the  Temptation:  a 

Course  of  Lectures.  By  the  Rev.  W.  H.  Hutchings,  M.A., 
Sub-Warden  of  the  House  of  Mercy,  Clewer.  Crown  8vo. 
4s.  6d. 

CONTENTS. 

The  Entrance  into  the  Temptation— The  Fast— The  Personality  of  Satan— 
The  First  Temptation— The  Second  Temptation— The  Third  Temptation 
—  The  End  of  the  Temptation. 
"  We  can  mention  with  unmixed   has  always  been  a  characteristically 

praise  a  series  of 'lectures  on  1 The  Mys-    Anglican  virtue  has  not  failed  in  a 

teryofthe  Temptation'  by  Mr.  Hutch-  preacher  like  Mr.  Hutchings."— Aca- 

ings   of  Clewer.    They   are   deeply  demy. 

thoughtful,  full,  and  well  written,  in  a  ' '  Students  of  Scripture  will  find  i  n 
style  which,  from  its  calmness  and  *  The  Mystery  of  the  Temptation  ' 
dignity  befits  the  subject."— Guar-  sound  reasoning,  trie  evidences  of  close 
D1\N  study,  and  tlte  spirit  of  reverence  and 

"  This  book  is  one  of  the  refreshing  fervent faith."— Morning  Post. 
Proofs  still  occasionally  met  with  that       "  This  is  a  volume  of  lectures  which 
the  ' traditional  culture  and  refinement    will  repay  serious  study.     They  are 
of  the  A  nglican  clergy  is  not  quite  ex-    earnest  to  tlie  last  degree"— Literary 
hausted,  nor  its  exhaustion  implied,    Churchman     .,,„_.  v 
by  the  endless  and  vulgar  controversies       "Very  good  indeed.  —New  York 
that  fill  the  columns  of  religwus  news-   Church  Journal. 
papers.     The  sober  earnestness  thai 


OTaterlao  place,  Hortuort 


Sermons 


65 


The  Eeligion  of  the  Christ:  its  His- 
toric and  Literary  Development  considered  as  an  Evidence  of 
its  Origin.  Being  the  Bampton  Lectures  for  1874.  By  the 
Rev.  Stanley  Leathes,  M.A.,  Minister  of  St.  Philip's, 
Regent  Street,  and  Professor  of  Hebrew,  King's  College, 
London.    Second  Edition.    Crown  8vo.    7*.  6d. 

The  Witness  of  the  Old  Testament  to 

Christ.  Being  the  Boyle  Lectures  for  the  year  1868.  By  the 
Rev.  Stanley  Leathes,  M.A.,  Minister  of  St.  Philip's, 
Regent  Street,  and  Professor  of  Hebrew,  King's  College, 
London.    8vo.  gs. 

The  Witness  of  St.  Paul  to  Christ. 

Being  the  Boyle  Lectures  for  1869.  With  an  Appendix  on 
the  Credibility  of  the  Acts,  in  Reply  to  the  Recent  Strictures 
of  Dr.  Davidson.  By  the  Rev.  Stanley  Leathes,  M.A., 
Minister  of  St.  Philip's,  Regent  Street,  and  Professor  of 
Hebrew,  King's  College,  London.    8vo.     10s.  6d. 

The  Witness  of  St.  John  to  Christ. 

Being  the  Boyle  Lectures  for  1870.  With  an  Appendix  on 
the  Authorship  and  Integrity  of  St.  John's  Gospel,  and  the 
Unity  of  the  Johannine  Writings.  By  the  Rev.  Stanley 
Leathes,  M.A.,  Minister  of  St.  Philip's,  Regent  Street,  and 
Professor  of  Hebrew,  King's  College,  London.    8vo.    10s.  6d. 


Short  Sermons  on  the  Psalms  in  their 

Order.  Preached  in  a  Village  Church.  By  W.  J.  Stracey, 
M.A.,  Rector  of  Oxnead,  and  Vicar  of  Buxton,  Norfolk,  for- 
merly Fellow  of  Magdalen  College,  Cambridge.    Crown  8vo. 

Vol.    I.— Psalms  I— XXV.  5*. 
Vol.  II.— Psalms  XXVI— LI.  $s. 


artti  at  ©ifort  antJ  (Eambutige 


66 


Rivington's  Select  Catalogue 


Sermons  Preached  in  the  Temporary 

Chapel  of  Keble  College,  Oxford,  1870— 1876.  Second 
Edition.    Crown  8vo.  6s. 

CONTENTS. 

The  Service  of  God  the  Principle  of  Daily  Life — The  Costliness  of  Acceptable 
Offerings — The  Hearing  of  Sermons— The  Missionary  Character  of  all 
Christian  Lives — The  Revelation  of  the  Son  as  well  in  Nature  as  in  the 
Incarnation — The  New  Chapel — The  Secret  of  Spiritual  Strength — The 
Preparation  of  Lent — The  Spirit  of  the  Daily  Services  :  I.  The  Spiritual 
Sacrifice  of  the  Universal  Priesthood.  II.  Offering  to  God  of  His  Own — 
The  Life  of  Love — The  Resurrection — Redeeming  the  Time — The  Devo- 
tional Study  of  Holy  Scripture — Conversion — Conversation — Enthusiasm 
—Growth  in  the  Knowledge  of  God— The  Imitation  of  Christ— Manliness 
—Truth — Saints'  Days— Eternity— Life. 

Farewell  Counsels  of  a  Pastor  to  his 

Flock,  on  Topics  of  the  Day.  By  Edward  Meyrick  Goul- 
burn,  D.D.,  Dean  of  Norwich.  Third  Edition.  Small  8vo.  4J. 

CONTENTS. 

Absolution — Ritualism — The  Doctrine  of  the  Eucharist — The  Atonement — The 
Stability  of  an  Orthodox  Faith— The  Stability  of  Personal  Religion— 
On  Preaching  Christ  Crucified — The  Responsibility  of  Hearers. 

The  Doctrine  of  the  Cross :  specially 

in  its  relation  to  the  Troubles  of  Life.  Sermons  preached 
during  Lent  in  the  Parish  Church  of  New  Windsor  by  Henry 
J.  Ellison,  M.A.  (sometime  Vicar  of  Windsor),  Honorary 
Chaplain  to  the  Queen,  Honorary  Canon  of  Christ  Church,  and 
Rector  of  Haseley,  Oxon.    Small  8vo.    2s.  6d. 

CONTENTS. 

The  Troubles  of  Life — The  Doctrine  of  the  Cross — The  Christian  Crucified  with 
Christ — The  Cross  of  Chastisement — The  Cross  of  Trial — Voluntary 
Crosses — The  Crown. 

The  Way  of  Holiness  in  Married  Life. 

A  Course  of  Sermons  preached  in  Lent.  By  the  Rev.  Henry 
J.  Ellison,  M.A.,  Hon.  Canon  of  Christ  Church,  and  Vicar 
of  New  Windsor,  Berks.    Second  Edition.   Small  8vo.  2s.  6d. 


Sermons  67 


Sermons   Preached   in   the  Parish 

Church  of  Barnes,  1871  to  1876.  By  Peter  Goldsmith 
Medd,  M.A.,  Rector  of  North  Cerney,  Hon.  Canon  of  St. 
Albans,  and  Examining  Chaplain  to  the  Bishop ;  late  Senior 
Fellow  of  University  College,  Oxford,  and  Rector  of  Barnes. 
Crown  8vo.    7^.  6d. 

CONTENTS. 

Thankfulness  for  God's  Mercies— Subjection  to  the  Civil  Power— Christ's  Pro- 
phecy of  the  End— God's  Purpose  of  Love  in  Creation— The  Introduction 
of  Evil  into  the  Creation — Christian  Love — Christianity  a  Religion  of  Self- 
Denial — The  Nature  of  Sin — The  Consequences  of  Sin  (No.  1) — The 
Consequences  of  Sin  (No.  2) — The  Remedy  of  Sin  (No.  1) — The  Remedy 
of  Sin  (No.  2)— With  Christ  in  Paradise— The  Remedy  of  Sin  (No.  3) — 
The  Remedy  of  Sin  (No.  4) — Christ  the  Resurrection  and  the  Life — The 
Hope  of  the  Resurrection — The  Three  Resurrections— The  Hope  of  the 
Christian— The  Publican's  Prayer— The  Conflict  of  Flesh  and  Spirit- 
Christian  Unity  —  The  Duty  of  Forgiveness  —  Present  Salvation — The 
Marks  of  the  Children  of  God — Against  Religious  Narrowness — The 
Necessity  of  Meditation  on  Religious  Subjects — The  Need  of  Effort  in  the 
Christian  Life — Bodily  Works  of  Mercy — The  Athanasian  Creed — Con- 
scious Religion — The  Comfort  of  the  Christian  Faith— Appendix. 

"  The  special  merit  of  his  volume  is  not  of  ten  meet  with  a  volume  of  dis- 

its  thoughtfulness ;  and  as  Mr.  Medd  courses  of  such   uniform  excellence, 

writes  in  a  very  condensed  style,  the  Nothing  hazardous  is  attempted ;  but 

thirty-two  sermons  which  he  has  given  in  all  that  he  attempts  Mr.  Medd 

us  contain  a  great  deal  more  of  valu-  entirely  succeeds.      The   teaching  is 

able  matter  than  many  books  of  much,  plain,  direct,  and  effective  ;  while  the 

larger  bulk.  .  .  .   We   believe   that  breadth  of  view  and  the  liberality  oj 

many    of  our   readers,    among   the  sentiment  are  most  refreshing  in  these 

clergy  as  well  as  the  laity,  will  thank  days  wJien   the  sermon  is  too  ofte?i 

us  for  having  drawn  tlieir  attention  made  a  party  manifesto.  Professor 

to  the  excellences  of  the  volume  before  Blackie  would  find   in   them  both 

us." — Guardian.  '  vigour'  and '* grace .'   And  the  reader 

"  TJiey  range  over  a  wide  circle  of  will  also  find  in  tliem  a  considerable 

subjects,   theological  and  practical;  knowledge  of  the  heart,  an  intelligent 

but  are   always  full,   vigorous,  and  compre /tension  of  the  Christian  system, 

energetic,  yet  with  a  sobriety  of  style  much  lucid  exposition  of  Scriptural 

and  an  elegance  of  treatment  tfyat  truth,  and  a  forcible  application  of  it 

must  have  charmed  the  Jiearer  just  to  tlie  human  conscience.'" — Scottish 

as  tJiey  win  upon  the  reader.    We  do  Guardian. 

The  Permanence  of  Christianity.  Con- 
sidered in  Eight  Lectures  preached  before  the  University  of 
Oxford,  in  the  year  1872,  on  the  Foundation  of  the  late  Rev. 
John  Bampton,  M.A.  By  John  Richard  Turner  Eaton, 
M.A.,  late  Fellow  and  Tutor  of  Merton  College,  Rector  of 
Lap  worth,  Warwickshire.    8vo.  \2s. 


anto  at  ©ifori  arrti  (!Iambrfafl£ 


68  Rivington's  Select  Catalogue 


The  Christian  Character;  Six  Sermons 

preached  in  Lent.  By  John  Jackson,  D.D.,  Bishop  of 
London.    Seventh  Edition.    Small  8vo.  $s. 

The  Eeconciliation  of  Reason  and 

Faith.  Being  Sermons  on  Faith,  Evil,  Sin  and  Suffering,  Im- 
mortality, God,  Science,  Prayer,  and  other  Subjects.  By 
Reginald  E.  Molyneux,  M.A.    Crown  8vo.  4J. 

The  Soul  in  its  Probation:  Sermons 

Preached  at  the  Church  of  S.  Alban  the  Martyr,  Holborn, 
on  the  Sundays  in  Lent,  1873.  By  the  Rev.  F.  N.  Oxenham, 
M.  A.    8vo.    5  j. 

The  Last  Three  Sermons  preached  at 

Oxford  by  Philip  N.  Shutt-leworth,  D.D.,  sometime 
Lord  Bishop  of  Chichester.  Justification  through  Faith — The 
Merciful  Character  of  the  Gospel  Covenant — The  Sufficiency  of 
Scripture  a  Rule  of  Faith.  To  which  is  added  a  Letter 
addressed  in  1841  to  a  Young  Clergyman,  now  a  Priest  in  the 
Church  of  Rome.    New  Edition.    Small  8vo.    2s.  6d. 

Not  Tradition  but  Scripture.    By  the 

late  Philip  Nicholas  Shuttleworth,  D.D.,  Warden  of 
New  College,  Oxford,  and  Rector  of  Foxley,  Wilts,  afterwards 
Bishop  of  Chichester.     Fourth  Edition.    Crown  8vo.    2>s.  6d. 


MatEtkio  Pacf,  Kantian 


7.  Eeiigious  SEtmcation. 


A  Key  to  Christian  Doctrine  and  Prac- 
tice, founded  on  the  Church  Catechism.    By  the  Rev.  John 
Henry  Blunt,  M.A.,  F.S.A.,  Editor  of  "The  Annotated 
Book  of  Common  Prayer,"  &c.  &c.    Small  8vo.    2s.  6d. 
Forming  a  Volume  of  "Keys  to  Christian  Knowledge." 

"  Of  c/ieap  and  reliable  text-books  of  into  matters  of  practical  application  so 

this  nature  tltere  has  hitJierto  been  a  freely  as  to  make  it  most  serviceable , 

great  want.     We  are  often  asked  to  re-  either  as  a  teac/ier's  suggestion  book, 

commend  books  for  use  in  Church  Sun-  or  as  an  intelligent  pupil's  reading 

day-schools,  and  we  tliere fore  take  this  book." — Literary  Churchman. 

opportunity  of  saying  that  we  kncnu  of  "  IVill  be  very  useful  for  the  higlier 

none  7nore  likely  to  be  of  service  both  classes  in  Sunday-sclwols,  or  ratlier 

to   teac  Iters  and  sclwlars  than  t/zese  for  t/te  f idler  instruction  of  t/te  Sunday- 

'  Keys.'"  —  Churchman's    Shilling  school  teacJters  tJiemselves,  wJtere  tJie 

Magazine.  parish  priest  is  wise  enough  to  devote  a 

''This  is  anotJier  of  Mr.   Blunt's  certain  time  regularly  to  tJieir  prepara- 

most  useful  manuals,  with  all  the  pre-  tion  for  tlteir  voluntary  task." — Union 

cision  of  a  school  book,  yet  diverging  Review. 


Household  Theology :   a   Handbook  of 

Religious  Information  respecting  the  Holy  Bible,  the  Prayer 
Book,  the  Church,  the  Ministry,  Divine  Worship,  the  Creeds, 
&c.  &c.  By  the  Rev.  John  Henry  Blunt,  M.A.,  F.S.A., 
Editor  of  "The  Annotated  Book  of  Common  Prayer,"  &c.  &c. 
New  Edition.    Small  8vo.    $s-  6d. 

CONTENTS. 

The  Bible— The  Prayer  Book— The  Church— Table  of  Dates— Ministerial  Offices 
—  Divine  Worship  —  The  Creeds— A  Practical  Summary  of  Christian 
Doctrine — The  Great  Christian  Writers  of  Early  Times — Ancient  and 
Modern  Heresies  and  Sects — The  Church  Calendar — A  short  explanation 
of  Words  used  in  Church  History  and  Theology— Index. 


anil  at  ©if orb  anb  (Eambribgc 


7o  Rivington's  Select  Catalogue 


Manuals    of    Eeligious  Instruction. 

Edited  by  John  Pilkington  Norris,  B.D.,  Canon  of 
Bristol,  Vicar  of  St.  Mary,  Redcliffe,  and  Examining  Chaplain 
to  the  Bishop  of  Manchester. 

3  Volumes.    Small  8vo.    3s.  6d.  each.    Sold  separately. 

The  Old  Testament. 
The  New  Testament. 
The  Prayer  Book. 

Or  each  Volume  in  Five  Parts,    is.  each  Part. 

[These  Manuals  are  intended  to  supply  a  five  years' course  of  instruction  for 
young  people  between  the  ages  of  thirteen  and  eighteen. 

It  will  be  seen  that  fifteen  small  graduated  text-books  are  provided  :— 

Five  on  the  Old  Testament  ; 
Five  on  the  New  Testament  ; 
Five  on  the  Catechism  and  Liturgy. 

In  preparing  the  last,  the  Editor  has  thought  it  best  to  spread  the  study  of  the 
Catechism  over  several  years,  rather  than  compress  it  into  one. 

This  may  give  rise  to  what  may  appear  some  needless  repetition.  But  the 
Lessons  of  our  Catechism  are  of  such  paramount  importance,  that  it  seems  de- 
sirable to  keep  it  continually  in  our  Pupils'  hands,  as  the  best  key  to  the  study  of 
the  Prayer  Book. 

There  has  been  a  grievous  want  of  definiteness  in  our  young  people's  know- 
ledge of  Church  doctrine.  Especially  have  the  Diocesan  Inspectors  noticed  it 
in  our  Pupil  Teachers.  It  has  arisen,  doubtless,  from  their  Teachers  assuming 
that  they  had  clear  elementary  ideas  about  religion,  in  which  really  they  had 
never  been  grounded.  It  is  therefore  thought  not  too  much  to  ask  them  to  give 
one-third  of  their  time  to  the  study  of  the  Prayer  Book. 

In  the  Old  Testament  and  New  Testament  Manuals  the  greatest  pains  have 
been  taken  to  give  them  such  a  character  as  shall  render  it  impossible  for  them 
to  supersede  the  Sacred  Text.  Two  main  objects  the  writers  of  the  Old  and 
New  Testament  Manuals  have  proposed  to  themselves;  first,  to  stimulate  interest; 
second,  to  supply  a  sort  of  running  commentary  on  the  inspired  page.  Especial 
pains  have  been  taken  to  draw  the  reader's  attention  to  the  spiritual  teaching  of 
Holy  Scripture,  and  to  subordinate  to  this  the  merely  historical  interest. 

The  writer  of  the  Old  Testament  Manual  has  made  it  his  endeavour  to  help 
the  reader  to  see  our  Lord  Christ  in  Law,  in  Psalms,  in  Prophets. 

The  New  Testament  Manual  is  confined  to  the  Gospels  and  Acts.  It  was 
found  impossible  to  include  any  of  the  Epistles.  But  the  Fourth  Part  of  the 
Prayer  Book  Manual  will  in  some  measure  supply  this  deficiency. 

Although  they  were  originally  prepared  with  special  regard  to  Pupil  Teachers, 
they  will  be  found  adapted  also  for  all  students  of  a  like  age  (from  thirteen  to 
eighteen)  who  have  not  access  to  many  books.] 


TOaterloo  place,  Jonbott 


Religious  Education 


71 


Rudiments  of  Theology.    A  First  Book 

for  Students.  By  John  Pilkington  Norris,  B.D.,  Canon 
of  Bristol,  Vicar  of  St.  Mary,  Redcliffe,  and  Examining  Chap- 
lain to  the  Bishop  of  Manchester.  Second  Edition,  revised. 
Crown  8vo.    Js.  6d. 

"  It  is  altogether  a  remarkable  book,  and  directing  the  student's  mind  to 

We  have  seldom  seen  clear,  incisive  '  what  the  early  Fat/iers  thought  and 

reasoning,    orthodox   teaching,    and  turote  in  the  days  -when  the  Church's 

ivide-mindedness  in  such  happy  com-  theologians  had  to  hold  their  own 

bination.  '— Literary  Churchman.  against  an  adverse  world.'" — Guar- 

"  A  most  useful  book  for  theological  dian. 
students  in  the  earlier  part  of  their  "  This  work  was  prepared  as  a  hand- 
course.  .  .  .  The  book  is  one  for  book  for  theological  students.  But  it 
which  the  Church  owes  a  debt  of  grati-  is  to  reach  a  far  wider  field.  It  is 
tude  to  Canon  Norris,  combining,  as  capable  ofdobig  a  most  important  ser- 
it  does,  orthodoxy  and.  learning,  and  vice  among  all  classes.  We  have  sel- 
logical  accuracy  of 'definition  with  real  dom,  if  ever,  met  a  more  satisfactory 
charity.  We  heartily  commend  it." —  or  a  clearer  presentation  of  the  funda- 
John  Bull.  mental  facts  of  theology  than  those 

"  We  can  recommend  this  book  to  given  in    these  pages.    .    .    .  The 

theological  students  as  a  useful  and  author    has    the    rare   faculty — it 

compendious  manual.    It  is  clear  atid  amounts  really  to  genius — of  saying 

well  arranged.    .    .     .     We  venture  just  the  thing  that  ought  to  be  said, 

to  believe  that,  on  the  whole,  he  is  a  and  of  presenting  any  truth  in  such  a 

very  fair  exponent  of  the  teaching  of  shape  that  the  reader  can  easily  take 

the  English  Church,  and  that  his  book  hold  of  it  and  make  it  his  own.    .    .  . 

may  be  profitably  used  by  those  for  We  commend  this  work  to  Churchmen 

whom  it  is  chiefly  ifitended — that  is,  generally  as  one  from  which  all  can 

candidates  for    ordination." — Spec-  derive  profit.    To  the  Clergy  it  will 

tator.  serve  as  a  model  method  of  dogmatic 

' '  This  unpretending  work  supplies  teaching,  and  to  the  laity  it  will  be  a 

a  real  desideratum.  .  .  .  It  seeks  rich  storehouse  of  information  con- 
to  lead  us  from  the  shifting  sands  of  cerning  the  things  to  be  believed.    .    .  . 

human  systems  to  the  solid  ground  oj  The  whole  thing  is  so  admirable  in 

Divine  revelation,  wisely  recognising  tone,  arrangement,  and  style  that  it 

as  its  most  trustworthy  interpreters  will,    no  doubt,   become  universally 

those  who  came  nearest  to  its  times,  popular." — Churchman  (New  York). 


The  Young  Churchman's  Companion 

to  the  Prayer  Book.  By  the  Rev.  J.  W.  Gedge,  M.A., 
Winchester  Diocesan  Inspector  of  Schools  for  West  Surrey 
and  the  Channel  Islands.  (Recommended  by  the  late  and 
present  Lord  Bishops  of  Winchester. ) 

Part    I.  — Morning  and  Evening  Prayer  and  Litany. 

Part  II. — Baptismal  and  Confirmation  Services. 

Part  III. — Holy  Communion. 

i8mo.,  is.  each  Part ;  or  in  paper  cover,  6d. 


artb  at  (©atforb  ant)  (£ambrxt)ge 


72 


Rivington's  Select  Catalogue 


A  Catechism  on  Gospel  History,  in- 
culcating Church  Doctrine.  By  the  Rev.  Samuel  Kettle- 
well,  M.  A.,  late  Vicar  of  St.  Mark's,  Leeds.  Third  Edition. 
Small  8vo.    3^.  6d. 

"  This  work  has  deservedly  reached  religions  instruction    to    tJieir  own 

a  third  edition.    Originally  composed  children,  as  well  as  for  teachers  gen- 

when  its  author  was  at  Leeds,  its  erally." — National  Church. 

usefulness  was  tested  in  the  parish  "  Sunday-school  teachers  and  others 

church  schools  there.     1 1  has  since  engaged  in  the  instruction  of  the  young 

been  enlarged  and  carefully  revised,  will  .find  in  its  pages  many  useful 

and  will  be  found  exceedingly  well  suggestions." — Rock. 
suited  for  the  use  of  parents  in  giving 

A  Help  to  Catechizing.    For  the  Use  of 

Clergymen,  Schools,  and  Private  Families.  By  James  Beaven, 
D.D.,  formerly  Professor  of  Divinity  in  the  University  of  King's 
College,  Toronto.    New  Edition.    i8mo.  2s. 

Catechetical  Exercises  on  the  Apostles' 

Creed ;  chiefly  from  Bp.  Pearson.  By  Edward  Bicker- 
steth,  D.D.,  Dean  of  Lichfield.    New  Edition.     i8mo.  2s. 

Questions  illustrating  the  Thirty-Nine 

Articles  of  the  Church  of  England,  with  Proofs  from  Holy 
Scripture,  and  the  Primitive  Church.  By  Edward  Bicker- 
steth,  D.D. ,  Dean  of  Lichfield.    Sixth  Edition.    Small  8vo. 

The  Idle  Word  :  Short  Religious  Essays 

upon  the  Gift  of  Speech.  By  Edward  Meyrick  Goulburn, 
D.D.,  Dean  of  Norwich.    Fourth  Edition.    Small  8vo.  3*. 

CONTENTS. 

The  Connexion  of  Speech  with  Reason — The  Connexion  of  Speech  with  Reason 
— The  Heavenly  Analogy  of  the  Connexion  of  Speech  with  Reason 
— An  Idle  Word  Defined  from  the  Decalogue — An  Idle  Word  denned 
from  the  Decalogue — What  is  an  Idle  Word? — Words  of  Business  and 
innocent  Recreation  not  Idle — Speech  the  Instrument  of  Prophecy  and 
Sacrifice — Hints  for  the  Guidance  of  Conversation — On  Religious  Con- 
versation— Appendix. 


Waterloo  Place,  Xontion 


Religious  Education 


73 


A  Manual  of  Confirmation,  Comprising 

— I.  A  General  Account  of  the  Ordinance.  2.  The  Baptismal 
Vow,  and  the  English  Order  of  Confirmation,  with  Short 
Notes,  Critical  and  Devotional.  3.  Meditations  and  Prayers 
on  Passages  of  Holy  Scripture,  in  connexion  with  the  Ordi- 
nance. With  a  Pastoral  Letter  instructing  Catechumens 
how  to  prepare  themselves  for  their  first  Communion.  By 
Edward  Meyrick  Goulburn,  D.D.,  Dean  of  Norwich. 
Ninth  Edition.    Small  8vo.    is.  6d. 


Easy  Lessons  Addressed  to  Candidates 

for  Confirmation.  By  John  Pilkingtox  Norris,  B.D., 
Canon  of  Bristol,  Vicar  of  St.  Mary,  Redciiffe,  and  Examining 
Chaplain  to  the  Bishop  of  Manchester.    Small  8vo.    is.  6J. 


"An  admirable  Jiand-book  on  con- 
firmation. It  is  sound,  scriptural, 
plain,  and  practical.  It  brings  out 
only  important  points,  and  is  not  over- 
loaded with  unessential  things.  Be- 
sides, it  has  t/ie  rare  merit  of  being 
adapted  to  persons  of  varying  ages." — 
Churchman  (New  York). 

"Is  so  arranged  as  to  convey  the 
teaching  of  t lie  Catechism  to  tliose  zvho, 
from  early  disadvantages,  are  unable 
to  commit  it  to  memory.  Earnest 
counsels  are  appended  for  the  guidance 
of  the  confirmed  in  maturer  years.1' — 
National  Church. 

"  The  Cation  aims  in  the  first  nitie 
I  essons  to  transfuse  Hie  substance  of  Hie 
Catechism  into  a  form  which  such 
persons  could(readily  apprehetid ;  and 
in  this  he  has  entirely  succeeded.  His 
little  book,  Jiovuever,  is  equally  well 


adapted  for  better  educated  candidates, 
whose  interest  in  t/ie  time-lionoured 
formula,  so  often  repeated  will  probably 
be  stimulated  afresh  by  the  novelty  of 
t/ie  arrangement.  Canon  Morris's  ex- 
planations are  thoroughly  clear,  and 
it  is  needless  to  say  that  his  teaching 
is  sound  and  moderate." — Scottish 
Guardian. 

"A  valuable  little  work,  in  which 
the  principal  points  of  the  Church's 
teaching  are  clearly  and  fully  set forth. 
The  remarks  on  the  Sacraments  are 
exceedingly  good,  and  although  these 
'  Lessofis'  are  primarily  intended  for 
t/iose  who  are  preparing  for  confirm- 
ation, they  might  with  advantage  be 
studied  by  tliose  who,  having  passed 
this  stage,  are  desirous  of  refreshing 
tJieir  memories  respecting  the  doctrines 
tJiey  profess  to  believe." — Rock. 


Catechesis ;  or,  Christian  Instruction 

preparatory  to  Confirmation  and  First  Communion.  By 
Charles  Wordsworth,  D.C.L.,  Bishop  of  St.  Andrews. 
New  Edition.    Small  8vo.  2s. 


mti  at  ©iforfc  artb  GTambrt&ge 


8.  allegories  ann  Sales. 


Allegories  and  Tales.    By  the  Rev.  W. 

E.  Heygate,  M.A.,  Rector  of  Brighstone.    Crown  8vo.  $s. 

' '  It  is  eminently  original,  and  every  either  for  young  or  for  old.    The  stories 

one  of  its  sixty-three  short  allegories  is  a  are  some  of  them  quaint,  some  of  them 

story  that  the  dullest  child zuillread and  picturesque,  all  of  tJiem  pleasatit ;  and 

the  intelligent  child  -will  understand  the  ?noral  they  inclose  shines  out  soft 

and  enjoy.    Grave  thought,  kindly  rail-  and  clear  as  through  a  crystal.  This 

lery,  biting  sarcasm,  grim  humour,  sin-  is  a  book  that  may  be  recommended  for 

cere  indigfiation,  wise  counsel,  a  broad  a  present,  not  only  for  young  people,  but 

charity,  and  other  characteristics,  -rim  for  those  of  larger  growth.'"  —  Athen- 

through  the  allegories,  many  of  which  ^eum. 

are  highly  poetical  and  good  models  of      "  The  Rector  of  Brighstone  has  the 

that  style  of  composition." — Edinburgh  gift  of  writing  moral  and  spiritual 

Courant.  lessons  for  the  young  in  the  most  at- 

"  Mr,  Heygate1  svolume  contains  about  tractive  fashion.    His  1  Allegories  and 

sixty  short  tales  or  allegories,  all  rife  Tales' are  excellent  specimens  of  stories, 

with  good  teaching,  plainly  set  forth,  with  a  moral,  in  which  the  moral  is 

and  written  in  a  very  engaging  and  not  obtrusive  and  yet  is  not  lost." — 

attractive  style.   As  a  present  for  chil-  English  Independent. 
dren  this  book  would  be  at  once  accept-       "A  book  of  very  great  beauty  and 

able  and  beneficial.    It  can  be  highly  power.    Mr.  Heygate  is  a  thoughtful, 

commended." — Church  Herald.  earnest  and  able  writer,  on  whom  more 

il  There  are  both  grace  and  precision  than  any  one  is  fallen  in  a  striking 

about  these  'Allegories  and   Tales,'  manner  tlie  mantle  of the  great  author 

which  make  them  charming  to  read  of'Agathos.'" — John  Bull. 

Sacred  Allegories.    The  Shadow  of  the 

Cross— The  Distant  Hills— The  Old  Man's  Home— The  King's 
Messengers.  By  the  Rev.  William  Adams,  M.A.,  late 
Fellow  of  Merton  College,  Oxford.  New  Edition.  With 
numerous  Illustrations.    Crown  8vo.  $s. 

The  Four  Allegories  may  be  had  separately,  with  Illustra- 
tions.   i6mo.    is.  each. 


Waterloo  JUace,  |L  otto  on 


Allegories  and  Tales 


75 


The  First  Chronicle  of  ^Escendune. 

A  Tale  of  the  Days  of  Saint  Dunstan.  By  the  Rev.  A.  D. 
Crake,  B.A.,  Author  of  the  "History  of  the  Church  under 
the  Roman  Empire,"  &c.  &c.    Crown  8vo.    $s.  6d. 

"  The  volume  will  possess  a  strong  period.    We  can  scarcely  imagine  it 

interest,  especially  for  the  young,  and  possible  that  it  should  be  anything  else 

be  useful,  too,  for  though  in  form  a  tale,  than  a  great  favourite." — Literary 

it  may  be  classed  among  '  the  side-lights  Churchman. 

of  history.'" — Standard.  "It  is  one  of  the  best  historical  tales 
"Altogether  the  book  shows  great  for  the  young  that  has  been  published 
tliought  and  careful  study  of  the  matt-  for  a  long  time." — Nonconformist. 
tiers  and  customs  of  those  early  Saxon  "Written  with  much  spirit  and  a 
times." — John  Bull.  careful  altetition  to  the  best  authorities 
"  We  sliall  be  glad  when  Mr.  Crake  on  the  history  of  the  period  of  which  he 
takes  up  his  pen  once  more,  to  give  us  treats." — National  Church. 
a  further  instalment  of  the  annals  of  "  The  facts  upo?t  which  the  Chronicle 
the  House  of  AEscendune." — Church  is  based  have  been  carefully  brought 
Times.  together  from  a  variety  of  sources,  and 
"A  very  interesting  and  well-written  great  skill  has  been  shown  in  the  con- 
story  of  Saxon  tunes — the  times  of  struction  of  the  narrative.  TJie  aim 
Dunstan  and  the  hapless  Edwy.  The  of  the  author  is  certainly  a  good  one, 
author  has  evidently  taken  great  pains  and  his  efforts  have  been  attended  with  a 
to  examine  into  the  real  history  of  the  considerable amount of 'success .' '—Rock. 


Alfgar  the  Dane,  or  the  Second  Chron- 
icle of  ^Escendune,  A  Tale.  By  the  Rev.  A.  D.  Crake, 
B.A.,  Author  of  the  "  History  of  the  Church  under  the 
Roman  Empire,"  &c.  &c.    Crown  8vo.    3s.  6d. 


"  Mr.  Crake's  'Chronicles  of  AEscen- 
dune '  have  their  second  instalment  in 
'Alfgar  the  Dane,'  a  youth  who  is 
saved  from  tJie  massacre  on  S.  Brice's 
night  to  meet  with  many  capital  ad- 
ventures."— Guardian. 

' '  Sure  to  be  excessively  popular  with 
boys,  and  we  look  forward  with  great 
interest  to  the  Third  Chronicle,  which 
will  tell  of  the  Norman  invasion." — 
Church  Times. 

"  As  in  his  former  production,  Mr. 
Crake  seems  to  have  taken  great  pains 
to  be  correct  in  his  facts,  and  he  has,  we 
really  believe,  combined  accuracy  with 
liveliness.  Schoolboys,  not  at  Blox/uzm 
only,  ought  to  be  very  grateful  to  him  ; 
though  in  thus  speaking  we  by  no 
means  intend  to  imply  that  seniors 


will  not  find  this  little  book  both  inter- 
esting and  instructive.  Its  tone  is  as 
excellent  as  that  of  Mr.  Crake's  pre- 
vious tale."— Church  Quarterly  Re- 
view. 

"Here,  strung  together  with  char- 
acters in  hartnony  with  the  times,  is  a 
thoroughly  well-written  history  of  the 
later  Danish  invasions  of  England. 
.  ...  As  a  tale  his  work  is  interest- 
ing; as  a  history  it  is  of  very  consider- 
able value." — Nonconformist. 

"  It  is  not  often  that  a  writer  com- 
bines so  completely  the  qualities  which 
go  to  make  up  the  historian  and  the 
novelist,  but  Mr.  Crake  has  this  happy 
conjunction  of  faculties  in  an  emine?it 
degree." — Standard. 


att&  at  ®xtorb  att&  &ambribge 


76  Rivington's  Select  Catalogue 


Semele;  or,  The  Spirit  of  Beauty:  a 

Venetian  Tale.  By  the  Rev.  J.  D.  Mereweather,  B.A. 
English  Chaplain  at  Venice.    Small  8vo.    3s.  6d. 

The  Hillford  Confirmation.    A  Tale. 

By  M.  C.  Phillpotts.    New  Edition.    i6mo.  is. 


Waterloo  place,  ^ottoon 


9.  I£)t0torg  anD  TBtograpfjp, 


Bossuet    and    his  Contemporaries. 

By  H.  L.  Sidney  Lear.    Crown  8vo.    $s.  6d. 

Forming  a  Volume  of  "Christian  Biographies." 

contains  so  many  ifiterestvig  "  Bossuet' s  daily  life,  his  style  of 

facts  that  it  may  be  profitably  read  preaching,  his  association   with  the 

even  by  those  who  already  kuorv  the  stirring  political,  social,  and  ecclesias- 

man  and  the  period." — Spectator.  lical  events  of  his  time,  are  prese7ited 

"  Here  is  a  clear  and good  work,  the  in  a  simple  but  picturesque  way." — 

product  of  thorough  industry  and  of  Daily  News. 

/wuesl  mind" — Nonconformist.  "  We  are  always  glad  to  welcome  a 

"All  biography  is  delightful,  and  fresh  work  front  the  graceful  pen  of  the 

this  story  of  Bossuet  is  eminently  so."  author  of  1  A  Dominican  Artist.'" — 

—Notes  and  Queries.  Saturday  Review. 


Fenelon,  Archbishop  of  Oambrai.  A 

Biographical  Sketch.  By  H.  L.  Sidney  Lear.  Crown  Svo. 
2s.  6d. 

Forming  a  Volume  of  "  Christian  Biographies." 

"Those  who  know — and  we  may  be  scarcely  too  much  to  extend the  same 

fairly  ask,  who  does  not  ? — the  charm-  praise  to  the  whole  book. " — Spectator. 

ing  books  which  we  have  already  had  "Fenelon   is   thoroughly  readable, 

from  the  present   writer,  will  need  and  is  much  more  than  a  biographical 

nothing  more  than  the  announcement  sketch.     There  are  nearly  500  pages, 

of  it  to  make  them  welcome  this  new  ac-  and  there  are  very  few  wJiich  fail  to 

count  of  'the  life  of  'the  saintly  Fenelon."  give   a   reader  something  for  glad 

—Church  Quarterly  Review.  or   serious    thought."— Notes  and 

"  The  history  of  the  Church  offers  Queries. 

few  more  attractive  biographies  than  "We  doubt  much  whether  the  real 

that  of  the  great  Archbishop,  whom  man  was  ever  so  vividly  portrayed 

everybody  appreciated  save  his  king."  or  his  portrait  so  elegantly  framed  as 

— Guardian.  in  this  choice  and  readable  book." — 

' '  The  delightful  volume  under  notice  Watchman. 

will  add  much  to  the  well-deserved  re-  "  One  of  the  great  charms  of  this 

putation  of  its   author."  —  Church  work  consists  in  the  letters  scattered 

Times.  up  and  dow)i  its  pages,  some  addressed 

"  The  writer  has  foimd  a  subject  to  his  royal  pupil,  and  others  to  his 

which  suits  her  genius,  a?idshe  handles  frie?ids.    The  sweet  nature  and  singu- 

it  with  both  skill and  sympathy.  .  .   .  lar fascination  of  the  Archbishop  shine 

The  account  of  his  life  at  Catubrai  is  forth  conspicuously  in  these  self-reve- 

one  of  tlie  most  delightful  ?iarratives  latious,  which  breathe  a  truly  religious 

that  we  have  ever  read.    It  would  spirit." — English  Independent. 


ant)  at  (Shforti  ant)  Cambridge 


78  Rivington's  Select  Catalogue 


A  Christian  Painter  of  the  Nineteenth 

Century ;  being  the  Life  of  Hippolyte  Flandrin.  By  H.  L. 
Sidney  Lear.    Crown  8vo.    3*.  6d. 

Forming  a  Volume  of  "  Christian  Biographies," 


' 1  This  is  a  touching  and  instructive 
story  of  a  life  singularly  full  of  nobil- 
ity, affectio?i,  and  grace,  and  it  is 
worthily  told." — Spectator. 

"Sympathetic,  popular,  and  free, 
almost  to  a  fault,  from  technicalities. 
.  .  .  The  book  is  welcome  as  a  not 
untimely  memorial  to  a  man  who 
deserves  to  be  held  up  as  an  example." 
— Saturday  Review. 

"  The  record  of  a  life  marked  by 
exalted  aims,  and  crowned  by  no  small 


amount  of  honour  and  success,  cannot 
but  be  welcome  to  earnest  students  of 
all  kinds.  .  .  .  There  are  many 
fine  pieces  of  criticism  in  this  book, — 
utterances  of  Flandrin' s  which  show 
the  clear  wit  of  the  man,  his  candour, 

and  self-balanced  judgment  

We  have  written  enough  to  show  how 
interesting  the  book  is." — Athenaeum. 

"  This  is  a  charming  addition  to 
biographical  literature." — Notes  and 
Queries. 


A  Dominican  Artist :  A  Sketch  of  the 

Life  of  the  Rev.  Pere  Besson,  of  the  Order  of  St.  Dominic. 
By  H.  L.  Sidney  Lear.    Crown  8vo.    y.  6d. 

Forming  a  Volume  of  "  Christian  Biographies." 


"  The  author  of  the  Life  of  Pere 
Besson  writes  with  a  grace  and  refine- 
ment of  devotional  feeling  peculiarly 
suited  to  a  subject-matter  which  suffers 
beyond  most  others  from  any  coarse- 
ness of  touch.  It  would  be  difficult  to 
find  '  the  simplicity  and  purity  of  a 
holy  life '  more  exquisitely  illustrated 
than  in  Father  Besson's  career,  both 
before  and  after  his  joining  the  Domi- 
nican Order  under  the  auspices  of 
Lacordaire.  .  .  .  Certainly  we  have 
never  come  across  what  could  more 
strictly  be  termed  in  the  truest  sense 
1  the  life  of  a  beautiful  soul.'  The 
author  has  done  well  in  presenting  to 
English  readers  this  singtdarly  grace- 
ful biography,  in  which  all  who  can  ap- 
preciate genuine  simplicity  and  noble- 
ness of  Christian  character  will  find 
much  to  admire  and  little  or  nothi?ig 
to  condemn."  —Saturday  Review. 

"It  would  indeed  have  been  a  de- 
plorable omission  had  so  exquisite  a 
biography  been  by  any  neglect  lost  to 
English  readers,  and  had  a  character 


so  perfect  in  its  simple  and  complete 
devotion    been    withheld  from  our 

admiration  But  we  have 

dwelt  too  long  already  on  thisfascinat- 
ing  book,  and  must  now  leave  it  to  our 
readers." — Literary  Churchman. 

"  A  beautiful  and  most  interesting 
sketch  of  the  late  Pere  Besson,  an 
artist  who  forsook  the  easel  for  the 
altar." — Church  Times. 

1 '  Whatever  a  reader  may  think  of 
Pere  Besson's  profession  as  a  monk, 
no  one  will  doubt  his  goodness  ;  no  one 
can  fail  to  profit  who  will  patiently 
read  his  life,  as  here  written  by  a 
friend,  whose  sole  defect  is  in  being 
slightly  unctuous." — Athenaeum. 

"  The  story  of  Pere  Besson1  s  life  is 
one  of  jnuch  interest,  and  told  with 
simplicity,  candour,  and  good  feeling. " 
— Spectator. 

"  We  strongly  recommend  it  to  otcr 
readers.  It  is  a  charmifig  biography , 
that  will  delight  and  edify  both  old  and 
young." — Westminster  Gazette. 


Waterloo  f late,  fonoon 


History  and  Biography 


79 


The  Life  of  Madame  Louise  de  France, 

Daughter  of  Louis  XV. ,  also  known  as  the  Mother  Terese  de 
S.  Augustin.    By  H.  L.  Sidney  Lear.    Crown  8vo.    2>s-  6d. 
Forming  a  Volume  of  "  Christian  Biographies." 
"  Such  a  record  of  deep,  earnest,  self-  family  of LouisXV.  thereissues  this  Ma- 
sacrificing  piety,  beneath  the  surface  of  dame  Louise,  whose  life  is  set  before  us 
Parisian  life,  during  what  we  all  re-    as  a  specimen  of  as  calm  andunworldly 
gard  as  the  worst  age  of  French  godless-   devotion — of  a  devotion,  too,  full  of 
ness.  ought  to  teach  us all a  lesson  of  'hope   shrewd  sense  and  practical  adminis- 
and  faith,  let  appearances  be  what  tJiey    trative  talent — as  any  we  have  ever 
may.  Here,  from  out  of  the  court  and   met  with.'"— Literary  Churchman. 

The  Revival  of  Priestly  Life  in  the 

Seventeenth  Century  in  France.  Charles  de  Condren — 
S.  Philip  Neri  and  Cardinal  de  Berulle — S.  Vincent 
de  Paul  —  Saint  Sulpice  and  Jean  Jacques  Olier. 
By  H.  L.  Sidney  Lear.    Crown  8vo.    3J.  6d. 

Forming  a  Volume  of  "  Christian  Biographies." 
"A  book  the  authorship  of  which   may  belong,  can  read  without  quick 
will  command  the  respect  of  all  who   sympathy  and  emotion  these  touching 
can  honour  sterling  worth.    No  Chris-   sketches  of  the  early  Oratorians  and  the 
tian,  to  whatever  denomination  he   Lazarists." — Standard. 

Life  of  S.  Francis  de  Sales.    By  H.  L. 

Sidney  Lear.    Crown  8vo.  3s.  6d. 

Forming  a  Volume  of  "  Christian  Biographies." 

"It  is  written  with  the  delicacy,  his  own  writings  and  in  those  of  his 

freshness,  and  absence  of  all  affecta-  most  intimate  and  affectionate  friends. 

Hon  which  characterized  the  former  The  book  is  written  with  the  grave  and 

works  by  the  same  hand,  and  which  quiet  grace  which  characterizes  the 

render  these  books  so  very  much  more  productions  of  its  author,  and  cannot 

pleasant  reading  than  are  religious  fail  to  please  those  readers  who  can 

biographies  in  general.    The  character  sympathize  with  all  forms  of  goodness 

of  S.   Francis  de  Sales,   Bishop  of  and  devotion   to   noble  purpose." — 

Geneva,  is  a  charming  one.    His  un-  Westminster  Review. 

affected  humility,  his  freedom  from  "A  book  which  contains  the  record 

dogmatism  in  an  age  when  dogma  of  a  life  as  sweet,  pure,  and  noble,  as 

was  placed  above  religion,  his  freedom  any  man  by  divine  help,  granted  to 

from  bigotry  in  an  age  of  persecution,  devout  sincerity  of  soul,  has  been  per- 

were  alike  admirable.'''' — Standard.  mitted  to  live  upon  earth.    The  ex- 

"  The  author  of  'A   Dominican  ample  of  this  gentle  but  resolute  and 

Artist?  in  writing  this  new  life  of  the  energetic  spirit,  wholly  dedicated  to 

wise  and  loving  Bishop  and  Prince  of  the  highest  conceivable  good,  offering 

Geneva,  has  aimed  less  at  historical  itself,  with  all  the  temporal  uses  of 

or  ecclesiastical  investigation  than  at  mental  existence ,  to  the  service  of  in- 

a  vivid  and  natural  representation  of  finite  and  eternal  beneficence,  is  ex- 

the  inner  mind  and  life  of  the  subject  tremely  touching.    It  is  a  book  worthy 

of  his  biography,  as  it  can  be  traced  in  of  acceptance." — Daily  News. 


mti  at  ©xforti  ant)  Cambridge 


8o  Rivington's  Select  Catalogue 


Henri  Perreyve.    By  A.  Gratry,  Pretre 

de  l'Oratoire,  Professeur  de  Morale  Evangelique  a  la  Sorbonne, 
et  Membre  de  l'Academie  Fran9aise.  Translated  by  special 
permission.  With  Portrait.  By  H.  L.  Sidney  Lear.  Crown 
8vo.    3J.  6d. 

Forming  a  Volume  of  "Christian  Biographies." 

' '  A   most  touching  and  powerful  of  the  memoir  gave  himself  up  to  the 

piece  of  biography ,  interspersed  with  duties  of  his  sacred  office,  and  to  the 

profound  refections  on  personal  reli-  cultivation  of  the  graces  with  which  lie 

gion,  and  on  the  prospects  of  Chris-  was  endowed." — Church  Times. 

tianity." — Church  Review.  "It  is  easy  to  see  that  Henri  Per- 

"  The  works  of  the  translator  of  reyve,  Professor  of  Moral  Theology  at 

Henri  Perreyve  form,  for  the  most  the  Sorbonne,  was  a  Roman  Catholic 

part,  a  series  of  saintly  biographies  priest  of  no  ordinary  type.    With  com- 

which  have  obtained  a  larger  share  o_f  paratively  little  of  what  Protestants 

popularity  than  is  generally  accorded  call  superstition,  with  great  courage 

to  books  of  this  description.    .    .    .  and  sincerity ,  with  a  nature  singularly 

The  description  of  his  last  days  will  gzcileless  and  noble,  his  priestly  voca- 

probably  be  read  with  greater  interest  tion,  although  pursued,  according  to 

than  any  other  part  of  tJie  book  ;  pre-  his  biographer,  with  unbridled  zeal, 

senting  as  it  does  an  example  op  forti-  did  not  stifle  his  human  sympathies 

tude  under  suffering,  and  resignation,  and  aspirations.   He  could  not  believe 

when  cut  off  so  soon  after  entering  upon  that  his  faith  compelled  him  'to  re- 

a  much-coveted  and  useful  career,  of  nounce  sense  and  reason,'  or  that  a 

rare  occurrence  in  this  age  of  self-  priest  was  not  free  to  speak,  act,  and 

assertion.    This  is,  in  fact,  the  essen-  think  like  other  men.     Indeed,  the 

Hal  teaching  of  the  entire  volume."  Abbe  Gratry  makes  a  kind  of  apology 

—Morning  Post.  for  his  friend's  free-speaking  in  this 

" 'Those  who  take  a  pleasure  in  read-  respect,  and  endeavours  to  explain 

ing  a  beautiful  accomit  of  a  beautiful  it.    Perreyve  was  the  beloved  disciple 

character  would  do  well  to  procure  the  of  Lacordaire,  who  left  him  all  his 

Life  of 'Henri  Perreyve.''   .    .    .    We  manuscripts,  notes,  and  papers,  and 

would,  especially  recommend  the  book  he  himself  attained  the  position  of  a 

for  the  perusal  of  English  priests,  who  great  pulpit  orator. "  —  Pall  Mall 

may  learn  many  a  holy  lesson  from  Gazette. 
the  devoted  spirit  in  which  the  subject 

The  Last  Days  of  Pere  Gratry.   By  Pere 

Adolphe  Perraud,  of  the  Oratory,  and  Professor  of  La 
Sorbonne.  Translated  by  special  permission.  By  the  Author 
of  "Life  of  S.  Francis  de  Sales,"  &c.    Crown  8vo.    3J.  6d. 

Walter  Kerr  Hamilton,  Bishop  of  Salis- 
bury. A  Sketch  by  Henry  Parry  Liddon,  D.D.,  Canon  of 
St.  Paul's,  and  Ireland  Professor  of  Exegesis  in  the  University 
of  Oxford.    Second  Edition.    8vo.    2s.  6d. 


Waterloo  Place,  fonbon 


History  and  Biography 


81 


Life  of  S.  Vincent  de  Paul.  With  Intro- 
duction by  the  Rev.  R.  F.  Wilson,  M.A.,  Prebendary  of 
Salisbury  and  Vicar  of  Rownhams,  and  Chaplain  to  the  Bishop 
of  Salisbury.    Crown  8vo.  gs. 

"  A  most  readable  volume,  illustrat- 
ing plans  and  arrangements ,  which 
from  the  circumstances  of  the  day  are 
invested  with  peculiar  interest." — 
English  Churchman. 

"A  11  will  be  pleased  at  reading  the 
presefit  admirably  written  narrative, 
in  which  we  do  not  know  whether  to 
admire  more  the  candour  and  eat  nest- 
ness  of  the  writer  or  his  plain,  sensible, 
and  agreeable  style" — Weekly  Re- 
gister. 

"  We  trust  that  this  deeply  interest- 
ing a?id  beautifully  zvritten  biography 
will  be  extensively  circulated  in  Eng- 
land."— Church  Herald. 

"  We  heartily  recommend  the  intro- 
duction to  the  study  of  all  concerned 
zvith  ordinations." — Guardian. 

"  We  are  glad  that  S.  Vincent  de 
Paul,  one  of  the  most  remarkable  men 


produced  by  the  Gallican  Church,  has 
at  last  found  a  competent  English 
biographer.  The  volume  before  us  has 
evidently  been  written  with  conscien- 
tious care  and  scrupulous  industry. 
It  is  based  on  the  best  authorities, 
which  have  been  compared  with  praise- 
worthy diligence;  its  style  is  clear, 
elegant,  and  unambitious;  and  it 
shows  a  fine  appreciation  of  the  life 
and  character  of  the  man  whom  it 
commemorates."  —  Scottish  Guar- 
dian. 

' '  Mr.  Wilson  has  done  his  work 
admirably  and  evidently  con  amore, 
and  he  completely  proves  the  thesis 
with  which  he  starts,  viz.,  that  in  the 
life  of  the  Saint  there  is  a  homeliness 
and  simplicity,  and  a  general  absence 
of  the  miraculous  or  the  more  ascetic 
type  of  saintliness."— John  Bull. 


Life  of  Kobert  Gray,  Bishop  of  Cape 

Town  and  Metropolitan  of  the  Province  of  South  Africa.  Edited 
by  his  Son,  the  Rev.  Charles  Gray,  M.A.,  Vicar  of  Helms- 
ley,  York.    With  Portrait  and  Map.    2  Vols.    8vo.  32s. 

"  This  work  is  more  tha?i  a  bio-  true  apostolic  spirit,  was  a  faithful 

graphy;  it  is  a  vahiable  additio?i  to  son  of  the  Church,  and  a  distinguished 

tfie  history  of  the  nineteenth  ce?itury.  or7iament  of  the  Episcopate." — Stan- 

Mr.  Keble  more  than  o?ice  described  dard. 

Bishop  Gray's  struggles  as  'like  a  bit  "  Not  only  interesting  as  the  record 

out  of  the  fourth  century. ,'" — Guar-  of  a  good  man's  life,  but  extremely 

dian.  valuable  as  materials  for  Church  his- 

"  We  welcome  it  as  a  worthy  tribute  tory" — Church  Times. 
to  the  memory  of  07ie  who  possessed  the 


Life,  Journals,  and  Letters  of  Henry 

Alford,  D.D.,  late  Dean  of  Canterbury.  Edited  by  his 
Widow.  With  Portrait  and  Illustrations.  New  Edition. 
Crown  8vo.  gs. 


anb  at  ©ifort)  ant)  (£ambrit)ge 


82 


Rivington's  Select  Catalogue 


History  of  the  Church  under  the 

Roman  Empire,  a.d.  30-476.  By  the  Rev.  A.  D.  Crake, 
B.A.    New  Edition.    Crown  8vo.    p.  6d. 

"  A  compendious  history  o_f 'the  Chris-  schools  for    tJie    young." — English 

tian  Church  under  the  Roman  Empire  Churchman. 

will  be  hailed  with  pleasure  by  all  "Mr.  Crake  gives  us  in  a  clear  and 

readers  of  ecclesiastical  lore.   .   .    .  concise  form  a  narrative  of  the  Church 

The  author  is  quite  free  from   the  history  during  the  period  with  which 

spirit  of  controversialism ;  wherever  it  is  most  important  that  the  young 

he  refers  to  a  prevalent  practice  of  should  first  be  made  acquainted.  The 

ancient  times  he  gives  his  authority,  different  events  appear  to  be  described 

In  his  statement  of  facts  or  opinions  with  a  judicious  regard  to  their  rela- 

he  is  always  accurate  and  concise,  and  tive  importance,  and  the  manual  may 

his  manual  is  doubtless  destined  to  a  be  safely  recommended." — John  Bull. 

lengthened  Period   of  popularity." —  "  The  facts  are  well marshalled,  the 

Morning  Post.  literary  style  of  the  book  is  simple  and 

"  It  is  very  well  done.    It  gives  a  good;  while  the  pri7iciples  enunciated 

very  comprehensive  view  of  the  progress  throughout  render  it  a  volume  which 

of  events,  ecclesiastical  and  political,  may  be  safely  put  into  the  hands  of 

at  the  great  centres  of  civilisation  students.    For  the  higher  forms  of 

during  the  first  five  centtcries  of  Chris-  grammar-schools  it  is  exactly  the  book 

tianity." — Daily  News.  required.    Never  ponderous ,  and  f re- 

"  In  his  well-planned  and  carejully  quently  very  attractive  and  interest- 
written  volume  of  $00  pages  Mr.  Crake  trig,  it  is  at  once  readable  and  edifying, 
has  supplied  a  well-ktiown  and  long-  and  fills  efficiently  a  vacant  place 
felt  want.  Relying  on  all  the  highest  in  elementary  historical  literature, 
and  best  authorities  for  his  main  facts  Furthermore  its  type  is  clear  and  bold, 
and  conclusions,  and  wisely  making  and  it  is  well  broken  up  into  para- 
use  of  all  modem  research,  Mr.  Crake  graphs." — Union  Review. 
has  spared  neither  time  nor  labour  to  "It  retells  an  oft-told  tale  in  a 
make  his  work  accurate,  trustworthy ,  singularly  fresh  and  perspicuous  style, 
and  intelligent" — Standard.  rendering  the  book  neither  above  the 

"  Really  interesting,  well  suited  to  comprehension  of  an  intelligent  boy  or 

tJie  needs  of  those  for  whom  it  was  pre-  girl  of  fourteen  or  upwards,  nor  be- 

pared,  and  its  Church  tone  is  un-  neath  the  attention  of  an  educated 

exceptionable." — Church  Times.  man.    We  can  imagine  no  better  book 

"  As  a  volume  for  students  and  the  as  an  addition  to  a  parochial  library, 

higher  forms  of  our  public  scJtools  it  as  a  prize,  or  as  a  reading  book  in  the 

is     admirably    adapted." — Church  upper  forms  of  middle-class  schools." — 

Herald.  Scottish  Guardian. 

"  We  cordially  recommend  it  for  . 


Church  Memorials  and  Characteristics ; 

being  a  Church  History  of  the  six  First  Centuries.  By  the  late 
William  Roberts,  Esq.,  M.A.,  F.R.S.  Edited  by  his  Son, 
Arthur  Roberts,  M.A.,  Rector  of  Woodrising,  Norfolk. 
8vo.    *js.  6d. 


OTaterloo  place,  jLontion 


History  and  Biography 


S3 


Essays,   Historical    and  Theological. 

By  J.  B.  Mozley,  D.D.,  late  Canon  of  Christ  Church,  and 
Regius  Professor  of  Divinity  in  the  University  of  Oxford.  Two 
Vols.    Svo.  24J. 

CONTEXTS. 

Volume  I. — Introduction  and  Memoir  of  the  Author — Lord  Strafford — Arch- 
bishop Laud — Carlyle's  Cromwell — Luther. 

Volume  II.— Dr.  Arnold — Blancho  White— Dr.  Pusey's  Sermon — The  Book  of 
Job — Maurice's  Theological  Essays — Indian  Conversion — The  Argument 
of  Design — The  Principle  of  Causation  considered  in  Opposition  to  Atheis- 
tic Theories — In  Memoriam — List  of  the  Author's  Articles  and  Works. 


"  These  volumes,  we  cannot  doubt, 
will  be  eagerly  welcomed  and  largely 
read.  They  contain  specimens,  well 
selected,  and  extending  over  a  period 
of  thirty  years,  of  the  work  of  a  great 
?nitid  ;  the  real  greatness  of  which  was, 
indeed,  well  known  to  all  students  of 
theology.  .  .  .  We  trace  in  every  page 
tlie  handwriting  of  a  mind  which, 
though  it  may  look  with  keen  interest 
on  ail  Hie  varying  movements  of 
Hiought,  in  days  past  and  present,  and 
though  it  can  handle  with  the  grasp 
of  a  master  any  form  of  tliought  with 
which  it  comes  to  deal,  yet  is  evidently 
a  mind  of  deep,  quiet  reflection,  facing 
alone  before  God  tlie  great  questions 
of  Truth  and  Being,  'brooding'  over 
them  (to  use  his  own  expression)  until 
they  take  definite  shape,  never  suffer- 
ing them  to  come  forth  in  the  shape  of 
tluit  crude  suggestion  and  hazy  specula- 
tion so  fashionable  in  tJiese  days,  which 
touch  tnany  truths  witlwut  really 
grasping  tliem,  and  raise  many  ques- 
tions but  thoroughly  answer  nofte.  .  .  . 
We  hope  we  have  said  enough  to  giz'e 
our  readers  some  idea  of  these  remark- 
able volumes,  and  to  induce  tliem  to 
study  them  as  a  whole.  Many  other 
features  might fairl y  claim  notice  ;  but 
these  may  be  left  to  speak  for  themselves. 
As  we  read,  we  grieve  more  and  more 
that  it  has  pleased  God  to  call  from  us 
so  able  a  champion  of  His  truth,  and 
one  liardly  more  impressive  by  t/ie 
strength  of  his  argument  tlian  by  '  the 
quietness  and  conscience'  of  his 
spirit." — Guardian. 

"  We  have  said  enough,  we  trust, 
to  induce  our  readers  to  study  t/iese 


volumes  for  themselves.  They  will  find 
in  them  much  tJiat  will  bear,  not  one, 
but  many  perusals." — Saturday  Re- 
view 

"  These  essays  will  be  welcome  ez'en 
beyond  the  circle  of  those  w/10,  during 
his  lifetime,  Jiad  any  knowledge  of,  or 
acquaintance  with,  tliei?  author.  TJiey 
are  the  products  of  a  lucid,  comprehen- 
sive,and powerful  mind;  the  mitui  of  one 
w/10  was  a  student  and  a  thinker,  but 
who,by  his  vivid  grasps  of  ideasjiis  fir?n 
faith  in  the  principles  he  Jiad  made  his 
own,  and  his  faculty  of  impressive 
illustration,  had  much  of  tlie  facility 
which  is  usually  acquired  only  in  the 
actual  experie?ice  of  the  world." — 
British  Quarterly  Review. 

" Selected  from  the  earliest  as  ivell 
as  the  latest  of  Dr.  Mozley  s  writings, 
this  collection  represents  not  only  the 
full  exteti  t  of  his  menta  I  powers,  but  also 
tlie  course  and  ultimate  issue  of  his  in- 
tellectualcareer ;  for  as  it  was  by  ten- 
acity of  purpose  and  determination  of 
will  that  he  obtained  for  his  opinions 
recognition  and  esteem,  so  also,  owing 
to  his  argumentative  tenacity  and  in- 
tensity of  aim,  some  of  these  essays,  ij 
the  prophecy  may  be  hazarded,  will  re- 
tain a  lasting  place  in  literature." — 
Atheweum. 

"  These  Essays  stand  above  tlie  litie 
of  epliemeral  literature.  For  the 
more  experienced  student  of  history 
it  would  be  difficult  to  fiame  a  more 
positively  refreshing  book.  Dr.  Mozley 
was  a  hard  hitter,  and  few  writers 
liave  been  able  to  strike  so  decisively 
on  the  weak  points  of  an  adversary  s 
case."  — Contemporary  Review. 


anb  at  ©iforb  anti  Cambridge 


84  Rivington's  Select  Catalogue 


A  Key  to  the  Knowledge  of  Church 

History  (Ancient).  Edited  by  the  Rev.  John  Henry  Blunt, 
M.A.,  F.S.A.,  Editor  of  "The  Annotated  Book  of  Common 
Prayer,"  &c.  &c.  Small  8vo.  2s.  6d.  Also  a  Cheap  Edition, 
is.  6d. 

Forming  a  Volume  of  "Keys  to  Christian  Knowledge." 

"It  offers  a  short  and  condensed  everything  that  could  be  consistently 
account  of  the  origin,  growth,  and  con-  expected  in  a  volume  of  its  character, 
dition  of  the  Church  in  all  parts  of  the  There  are  many  notes,  theological, 
world,  from  A.D.  i  down  to  the  etid  of  scriptural,  and  historical,  and.  the 
the  fifteenth  century.  Mr.  Blunts  'get  up*  of  the  book  is  specially  corn- 
first  object  has  been  conciseness,  and  mendable.  As  a  text-book  for  the 
this  has  been  admirably  carried  out,  higher forms  of  schools  the  work  will 
and  to  students  of  Church  history  this  be  acceptable  to  numerous  teachers." — 
feature  will  readily  recommend  itself.  Public  Opinion. 

As  an  elementary  work  'A  Key*  will  "It  contains  some  concise  notes  on 
be  specially  valuable,  inasmuch  as  it  CJutrch  History,  compressed  into  a 
points  out  certain  definite  lines  of  small  compass,  and  we  think  it  is 
thought,  by  which  those  who  enjoy  the  likely  to  be  useful  as  a  book  of  refer- 
opportunity  may  be  guided  in  reading  ence." — John  Bull. 
the  statements  of  more  elaborate  his-  "A  very  terse  and  reliable  collection 
tories.  A  t  tJie  same  time  it  is  but fair  of  the  main  facts  and  incidents  con- 
to  Mr.Blufit  to  remark  that,  for  general  nected  with  Church  History." — Rock. 
readers,   the  little  volume  contains 

A  Key  to  the  Knowledge  of  Church 

History  (Modern).  Edited  by  the  Rev.  John  Henry  Blunt, 
M.A.,  F.S.A.,  Editor  of  "The  Annotated  Book  of  Common 
Prayer,"  &c.  &c.  Small  8 vo.  2s.  dd.  Also  a  Cheap  Edition, 
is.  6d. 

Forming  a  Volume  of  "  Keys  to  Christian  Knowledge." 

The  Eeformation  of  the  Church  of 

England  ;  its  History,  Principles,  and  Results.  A.D.  15 14- 1547. 
By  the  Rev.  John  Henry  Blunt,  M.A.,  F.S.A.,  Editor  of 
"The  Annotated  Eook  of  Common  Prayer,"  &c.  &c.  Fourth 
Edition.    8vo.  16s. 

Perranzabuloe,  the  Lost  Church  Found ; 

or,  The  Church  of  England  not  a  New  Church,  but  Ancient, 
Apostolical,  and  Independent,  and  a  Protesting  Church  Nine 
Hundred  Years  before  the  Reformation.  By  the  Rev.  C.  T. 
Collins  Trelawny,  M.A.,  late  Rector  of  Timsbury,  Somerset. 
New  Edition.    Crown  8vo.    3^.  6d. 


Waterloo  place,  Jonoon 


History  and  Biography  85 

The  Principles  of  Catholic  Eeform; 

or,  The  Harmony  of  Catholicism  and  Civilization.  Confer- 
ences of  1S7S  in  the  Cirque  d'Hiver,  Paris.  By  Hyacinthe 
Loyson,  Priest.  Translated  by  Lady  Durand.  Crown  8vo, 
3s.  6d. ;  or  in  paper  cover,  3s. 

The   Life   of  Alexander  Lycurgus. 

Archbishop  of  the  Cyclades.  By  F.  M.  F.  Skene.  With  an 
Introduction  by  the  Bishop  of  Lincoln.  Crown  8vo. 
30.  6d. ;  or  in  paper  cover,  3s. 

Historical  Narratives.    From  the  Russian. 

By  H.  C  Romanoff,  Author  of  "Sketches  of  the  Rites  and 
Customs  of  the  Greco-Russian  Church,"  &c.    Crown  8 vo.  6s. 

Sketches  of  the  Eites  and  Customs  of 

the  Greco-Russian  Church.  By  H.  C.  Romanoff.  With  an 
Introductory  Notice  by  the  Author  of  ' '  The  Heir  of  Redclyffe. M 
Second  Edition.    Crown  8vo.    Js.  6d. 

"  The  volume  before  us  is  anything  '  to  present  the  English  with  correct 

but  a  formal  liturgical  treatise.    It  descriptions  of  the  ceremonies  of  the 

might  be  more  valuable  to  a  fe^v  scholars  Greco-Russian  Church,   and  at  tlie 

if  it  were,  but  it  would  certai?ily  fail  same  time  with  pictures  of  domestic 

to  obtain  perusal  at  the  hands  of  tlie  life  in  Russian  homes,  especially  those 

great   majority   of  those   whom  tlie  of  the  clergy  and  the  middle  class  of 

writer,   not  unreasonably,   hopes   to  nobles;'   and,    beyond   question,  the 

attract  by  tlie  narrative  style  she  has  author's  labour  has  been  so  far  suc- 

adopted.    WJiat  she  has  set  before  us  cessful  that,  whilst  her  Church  scenes 

is  a  series  of  brief  outlines,  which,  by  may  be  cotnmended  as  a  series  of  most 

their  simple  effort  to  clothe  the  infor-  dramatic  and  picturesque  tableaux, 

mat  ion  given  us  in  a  living  garb,  her  social  sketclies  enable  us  to  look  at 

reminds  us  of  a  once-popular  child's  certain  points  beneath  the  surface  of 

book  which  we  remember  a  generation  Russian  life,  and  materially  enlarge 

ago,  called  ' Sketclies  of  Human  Man-  our  kncnvledge  of  a  coufitry  concerning 

ners.'  " — Church  Times.  which  we  Jiave  still  a  very  great  deal 

"  The  twofold  object  of  this  work  is  to  learn." — Athen^cum. 

Curious  Myths  of  the  Middle  Ages. 

By  S.  Baring-Gould,  M.A.,  Author  of  "Origin  and  De- 
velopment of  Religious  Belief,"  Sec.  "With  Illustrations.  New 
Edition.    Crown  8vo.  6s. 


arti)  at  ©sforb  anti  Cambridge 


86  Rivington's  Select  Catalogue 


Hellenica.    A  Collection  of  Essays  on 

Creek  Poetry,  Philosophy,  History,  and  Religion.  Edited  by 
Evelyn  Abbott,  M.A.,  LL.D.,  Fellow  and  Tutor  of  Balliol 
College,  Oxford.    8vo.  16s. 

CONTENTS. 

Aeschylus.  E.  Myers,  M.A.— The  Theology  and  Ethics  of  Sophocles.  E. 
Abbott,  M.A.,  LL.D.— System  of  Education  in  Plato's  Republics.  R.  L. 
Nettleship,  M. A.— Aristotle's  Conception  of  the  State.  A.  C.  Bradley, 
M.A.  —  Epicurus.  W.  L.  Courtney,  M.A. — The  Speeches  of  Thucydides. 
R.  C.  Jebb,  M.A.,  LL.D.— Xenophon.  H.  G.  Dakyns,  M.A.— Polybius 
J.  L.  S.  Davidson,  M. A.— Greek  Oracles.    F.  W.  H.  Myers,  M.A. 

[See  Rivington's  Educational  List.] 


The  Antiquities  of  Greece.  Translated 

from  the  German  of  G.  F.  Schoemann.    By  E.  G.  Hardy, 
M.A.,  Head-Master  of  the  Grammar  School,  Grantham,  and 
late  Fellow  of  Jesus  College,  Oxford;  and  J.  S.  Mann,  M.A., 
Fellow  of  Trinity  College,  Oxford.     8vo.  iSs. 
Vol.  I— THE  STATE. 

[See  Rivington's  Educational  List.] 


Historical  Biographies.    Edited  by  the 

Rev.  M.  Creighton,  M.A.,  late  Fellow  of  Merton  College, 
Oxford.    With  Maps.    Small  8vo. 

SIMON  DE  MONTFORT.    2s.  6d. 
THE  BLACK  PRINCE.    2s.  6d. 
SIR  WALTER  RALEGH.  $s. 
THE  DUKE  OF  WELLINGTON.    $s.  6d. 
THE  DUKE  OF  MARLBOROUGH.    3*.  6d. 
[See  Rivington's  Educational  List.] 


Waterloo  place,  Jonoon 


History  and  Biography 


87 


A  History  of  England.     By  the  Rev. 

J.  Franck  Bright,  M.A.,  Fellow  of  University  College,  and 
Historical  Lecturer  in  Balliol,  New,  and  University  Colleges, 
Oxford;  late  Master  of  the  Modern  School  in  Marlborough 
College.  With  Numerous  Maps  and  Plans.  New  Editions, 
Crown  8vo. 

Period  I.— FEUDAL  MONARCHY.    The  Departure 

of  the  Romans,  to  Richard  III.   a.d.  449-1485.    4s.  6 J. 
Period  IL— PERSONAL  MONARCHY.    Henry  VII. 

to  James  II.    a.d.  1485-1688.  $s. 
Period    III.— CONSTITUTIONAL  MONARCHY. 

William  and  Mary,  to  the  present  time.    a.d.  1689- 

1837.    *js.  6d. 

[See  Rivington's  Educational  List.] 

A  History  of  England  for  Children. 

By  George  Davys,  D.D.,  formerly  Bishop  of  Peterborough. 
New  Edition.    i8mo.    is.  6d. 

Fables  respecting  the  Popes  of  the 

Middle  Ages.  A  Contribution  to  Ecclesiastical  History.  By 
John  J.  Ign.  Von  Dollinger,  D.D.,  D.C.L.  Translated 
by  the  Rev.  Alfred  Plummer,  M.A.,  Master  of  University 
College,  Durham,  late  Fellow  of  Trinity  College,  Oxford. 
8vo.  14J. 

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Events  at  Home  and  Abroad,  for  the  Years  1863  to  1879. 
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10.  s©tscelianeoit0- 


Lyra  Apostolica.     [Poems,   by  J.  W. 

Bowden,  R.  H.  Froude,  J.  Keble,  J.  H.  Newman,  R.  J. 
Wilberforce,  and  J,  Williams  ;  and  a  New  Preface  by 
Cardinal  Newman.]  New  Edition.  i6mo.  Red  borders. 
25.  6d. 


Yesterday,  To-Day,  and  for  Ever:  A 

Poem  in  Twelve  Books.  By  Edward  Henry  Bickersteth, 
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Edition,  i8mo;  i6mo,  with  Red  Borders,  2s.  6d. 

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Edition,  with  Red  Borders,  10s.  6d.,  may  still  be  had. 

"  A  poem  worth  reading,  worthy  of 
attentive  study  ;  full  of  noble  thoughts, 
beautiful  diction,  and  high  imagina- 
tion. " — Standard. 

"  In  these  light  miscellany  days  there 
is  a  spiritual  refreshment  in  the 
spectacle  of  a  man  girding  up  the  loins 
of  his  mind  to  the  task  of  producing  a 
genuine  epic.  And  it  is  true  poetry. 
There  is  a  definiteness,  a  crispness 
about  it,  which  in  these  moist,  viewy, 
hazy  days  is  no  less  invigorating  than 
novel." — Edinburgh  Daily  Review. 

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steth. This  blank-verse  poem,  in  twelve 
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world  of  England  and  A  merica  with- 
out much  help  from  the  critics.  It  is 
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Miscellaneous 


39 


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a  compilation,  is  sensibly  and  simply  tlie  sound  remarks  scattered  through 
arranged  and  very  carefully  written,  the  book  on  the  principles  of  the  art 
To  tlwsnvhohavenottimeor  opportunity  ivi  11  be  of  much  use  to  the  student  in 
to  make  a  thorough  study  of  the  larger  forming  a  correct  judgment  as  to  the 
works  on  the  subject,  and  yet  wish  to  be  merit  of  any  window  lie  may  see." — 
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windows  of  tlie  chnrclies  they  may  see  "A  little  volume  7iot  intended  to 
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'  Rose  oj (the  Blessed,'  and  adorned with  is    7ioi  only  delightfil   in  itself  to 

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binding)  in  which  tlie  taste  and  execu-  who  wish  to  obtain  a  preliminary 

Hon  of  Mr.  D.  G.  Rossetti  will  be  re-  survey  of  the  land  before  they  attempt 

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us   remarkably  well  arranged  and  arduous  pilgrimage.     Of  all  poets 

digested;  the  author's  appreciation  of  Dante  stands  most  in  need  of  such 

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Sinner- 


PAGE 

Abbott,  Helleuica  ...  86 

Adams,  Sacred  Allegories       .  74 

  Warnings  of  Holy  Week  5 1 

A  Kempis,  Imitation      .    jg,  29,  92 

Alford,  Life  and  Journal     .  81 

 Greek  Testament          .  7 

 New  Testament    .        '  7 

Andrewes,  Manual  for  the  Sick  27 

Angels,  The  Holy    ...  46 

A  nnotated  Bible       ...  9 

Annotated  Prayer  Book  .       .  2 

 Compendious  Edition  .  1 

Annual  Register  ...  87 
Ascetic  Library : — 

Mysteries  of  Mount  Calvary  36 

Counsels  on  Holiness  of  Life  36 

Preparation  for  Death .       .  36 

Examination  of  Conscience  .  36 
Augustine,  S.,  Confessions      19,  29 

Avancini,  Vita  et  Doctrina    .  35 

Baker,  Manual  of  Devotion  33 

Ball,  On  tlie  Articles  .  .  43 
Bampton  Lectures  for  1865,  by 

Mozley   46 

  1866,  by  Liddon  .       .  51 

  1867,  by  Garbett        .  49 

 1872,  by  Eaton    .       .  67 

 1874,  by  Leathes        .  65 

Baring-Gould,  Religious  Belief  91 

  Curious  Myths     .       .  85 

Barrett,  Flowers  and  Festivals  38 

  Chorister's  Guide  .       .  38 

 Form  ana  Instrumenta- 
tion   89 

Barrow,  Mystery  of  Christ     .  17 
Beamont,  Prayer  Book  Inter- 
leaved   .....  3 
Be  wen,  Help' to  Catechising  .  72 
Bickersteth  (Dean),  Apostles' 
Creed     .....  72 

 Questions  on  the  A  rticles  72 

  (E.  H.),' Yesterday,  &*c.  88 

 The  Two  Brothers       .  88 

Bishop,  Notes  on  Church  Organs  38 

Blunt,  Annotated  Bible  .       .  9 

  Annotated  Prayer  Book  2 

 Compendious  Editio?i  1 

 Dictionary  of  Theology  44 

 Sects,  Heresies,  &>c.  43 

 Directorium  Pastorale  40 

  Doctrine  of  the  Church  43 


Blunt,  Sacraments 

 Household  Theology 

 Key  to  Church  Catechism 

 —  History  ( Ancient")  . 

 —  [Modern) 

  Holy  Bible  . 

  Prayer  Book  . 

  Reformation 

  Book  of  Church  Law  . 

Body,  Life  of  Justification  . 
Temptation 


page 
4 
69 
69 

84 
17 
4 
84 
37 
63 
63 
77 
5 
£7 
23 


Bossuet  a?id  his  Contemporaries 
Brewer,  Athanasian  Creed  . 
Bright,  J.  F.,  English  History 
Bright,  W.,  Faith  a?id  Life  . 

 and  Medd,  Liber  Precum 

Browning.     See  Historical 

Handbooks. 
Bruton,  Ecclesiastical  Dilapi- 
dations  39 

Campion,  Prayer  Book  Inter- 
leaved .... 
Carr,  Notes  on  S.  Luke 
Chilcot,  Evil  Thoughts  . 
Christian  Biographies     .        77 — 

  Painter 

 Year     .  .  19 


Church  Builder 

  Law,  Book  of 

Clergy  Charities  .List  of . 
Coles,  Good  Friday  Addresses 
Companion  to  the  Old  Testatnen 

Compton,  The  Catholic  Sacrifice  59 

  Armoury  of  Prayer     .  32 

Consoling  Thoughts  in  Sickness  32 

Cook,  Church  Doctrine   .       .  51 

Cordery,  Homer's  Iliad  .       .  87 

Crake,  First  Chronick  .       .  75 

  ^4  If  gar  the  Dane  .       .  75 

  History  of  the  Church  .  82 

Creighton.    See  Hist.  Biog. 

Cruden,  Concordance  to  the  Bible  18 

Daily  Gleanings  ...  24 
Dale,  Ecclesiastes  .  .  .  11 
Davys,  History  of  England  .  87 
Denton,  the  Lord's  Prayer  .  6 
Dent,  Testimony  of  the  Stars  90 
Devotional  Birthday  Book  .  31 
Dictionary  of  Theology  .  .  44 
  Sects,  Heresies,  &"c.     .  43 


anb  at  ©sforl)  anil  Cambridge 


94  Rivington's  Select  Catalogue 


Dollinger,  Prophecies 

  on  Reunion  . 

  the  Popes 

Dominican  Artist  (A) 


PAGE 

47 
47 
87 
78 


Eaton,   The  Permanence  of 

Christianity ....  67 

Eirenicon  of  18th  Century      .  45 

Ellison,  Doctrine  of  the  Cross  66 

 Married  Life       .       .  66 

Evans,  The  Bishopric  of  Souls  40 


Fenelon,  A  BiographicalSketch  77 

 Spiritual Letters  to  Men  26 

 to  Women        .       .  26 

Fenton,  A  Reverie        .       .  go 

Field,  Stones  of  the  Temple    .  39 

Fletcher,  Holy  Communion  .  22 

For  Days  and  Years       .       .  23 

Fosbery,  Hymns  and  Poems  25 

  Voices  of  Comfort  .       .  25 

From  Morning  to  Evening     .  35 


Garbett,  Dogmatic  Faith     .  49 

Garden,  Dictionary       .       .  90 

Garland,  Genesis    ...  16 

Gedge,  The  Prayer  Book        .  71 

Godparent's  Gift-Book      .       .  91 

Goulburn,  Acts  of  the  Deacons  16 

  The  Child  Samuel       .  20 

  The  Communion  Office  4 

 Study  of  the  Scriptures  10 

 Farewell  Counsels        .  66 

 Family  Prayers    .       .  33 

 Gospel  of  the  Childhood  20 

 Holy  Catholic  Church  .  40 

 Manualof  Confirmation  73 

 Pursuit  of  Holiness      .  20 

 Short  Devotional  Forms  20 

 The  Idle  Word     .       .  72 

 Personal  Religion       .  20 

Gratry,  Life  of  Henri  Perreyve  80 

  (Pere),  Last  Days  of   .  80' 

Gray,  Life  of  Bishop        .       .  81 

Guide  to  Heaven      .       .       .  21 


Haddan,  Apost.  Succession    .  45 

Hall,  Psalms  and  Hymns     .  6 

 New  Mitre  Hymnal     .  6 

Hamilton  (Bishop),  a  Sketch  .  80 

Hardy,  Antiquities  of  Greece  .  86 


Hellenic  a  

Help  and  Comfort  for  the  Sick 

Poor  

Herbert,  Poems  and  Proverbs 
Heygate,  A  llegories  and  Tales 

  The  Good  Shepherd 

Hidden  Life  of  the  Soul  . 
Historical  Biographies : — 
Simon  de  Montfort 
The  Black  Prince 
Sir  Walter  Ralegh 
The  Duke  of  Wellington 
The  Duke  of  Marlborough 
Hodgson,  Ins  true,  for  Clergy 
Hook,  Family  Prayer  . 
Hutchings,  Temptation 
Hymnal,  New  Mitre 
Hymns  and  Poems  for  the  Sick 


PAGE 

86 

35 
28,  92 
74 
34 
19,  30 

86 
86 
86 
86 
86 
40 
33 
64 
6 
25 


Jackson,  TheChristianCharacter  68 
James,  Christian  Watchfulness  36 

 Comment  upon  the  Collects  4 

Janus,  The  Pope  and  the  Council  49 
Jelf,  On  the  XXXIX  A r tides  4 9 
Jones,  Priest  and  Parish  .  38 
Joyce,  The  Civil  Power  .       .  45 


Kay,  On  the  Psalms  ,  .  n 
Keble,  The  Christian  Year  19,  25,  9? 

Keble  College  Sermons    .       .  66 

Ken  n  aw  ay,  Consolatio  .       .  32 

Kettlewell,  Gospel  History  .  72 

 ^Authorship  of"  De  Imi- 

tatione  Christi"  .  .  .  91 
Keys  to  Christian  Knowledge : — 

Key  to  the  Four  Gospels    .  13 

 Acts       ...  13 

 Holy  Bible      .       .  17 

 Prayer  Book  .       .  4 

  Church  Catechism  .  69 

  History  (Ancient)  .  84 

 (Modern)   .       .  84 

Knight  of  Intercession     .       .  89 


Laughton,  Home  and  Abroad  90 
Lear,  Christian  Biographies  [77 — 80 

Lear,  For  Days  and  Years    .  23 

■  Pascal's  Thoughts        .  23 

Leathes.  Religion  of  the  Christ  65 
 Witness  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment to  Christ    .       .  65 


Waterloo  Pace,  ILottbott 


Index 


95 


Leathes,  Witness  of  St.  Paul 

to  Christ      .       .  65 

 St.  John  to  Christ  .  65 

Lee  ,  Inspiration  of  Holy  Scrip.  1 8 

Lefroy,  Pleadings  for  Christ  51 

Liber  Precum  Publicarum      .  2 
Library   of  Spiritual  Works 
for  English  Catholics : — 

A  Kempis,  Imitation   .       .  19 

The  Christian  Year     .       .  19 

Scupoli,  The  Spiritual  Combat  J9 

S.  F.  de  Sales,  Devout  Life  19 

 Love  of  God       .       .  19 

 Spiritual  Letters       .  19 

Confessions  of  St.  A  ugustine  19 

The  Hidden  Life  of  the  Soul  19 

Liddon,  Divinity  of  our  Lord  51 

 Elements  of  Religion    .  50 

  University  Sermons      .  50 

 Second  Series        .       .  50 

  Walter  Kerr  Hamilton  80 

 A  ndreives'  Manual       .  26 

Life  Record,  A        ...  91 

Light  of  the  Consciewe    .       .  32 

Litanies,  A  Book  of         .       .  3 

Louise  de  France,  Life  of    .  79 

Lowder,  St.  George's  Mission  40 
Loysox  (H.),   Principles  of 

Catholic  Reform    .       .       .  85 

Lycurgus,  Life  of  A  lexander  85 

Lyra  Apostolica       .       .       .  88 

Lyte,  Miscellaneous  Poems    .  90 

Lyttelton,  Private  Devotions  22 

Li'CROCK,  After  Death    .       .  47 

MacColl,  Athanasian  Creed  5 

Mann,  Antiquities  of  Greece  .  86 

Mant,  Ancient  Hymns   .       .  31 

 Happiness  of  the  Blessed  48 

Manuals  of  Religious  Instruction  70 

Medd,  Household  Prayer       .  33 

 Parish  Sermons    .       .  67 

 and  Bright, Liber  Precum  2 

 and  Walton,  Com.  Pray.  2 

Meditations  on  our  Lord       .  21 

Melvill,  Sermons  ...  60 

 Latter  Sermons    .       .  62 

 Less  Prominent  Facts  .  61 

 Lot/ibury  Lectures        .  60 

Mercier,  Our  MotJier  Church  46 

Moberly,  Plain  Sermons       .  57 

 Great  Forty  Days         .  57 

 Sermons  at  Winchester  57 

Molynel  x,  Reason  and  Faith  68 

Monsell,  Parish  Musings      .  90 


PAGE 

Moore,  (Daniel),  Aids  to  Prayer  33 

 Sermons ....  64 

  The  Age  and  the  Gospel  64 

Morrell,  Book  for  Nurses     .  27 

Mozley,  Essays  Hist,  and  Theol.  83 

 Miracles        ...  48 

 Old  Testament    .        .  12 

 Parochial  and  Occasional 

Sermons      ...  58 

  Theory  of  Development  46 

  University  Sermons     .  59 

Mcllins,  Southefs  Nelson     .  86 


N eale,  The  Virgin  s  Lamp  .  34 
Newman,  Parochial  Sermons  54,  55 

 Selection  from       .       .  53 

  Justification         .       .  56 

  Subjects  of  the  Day      .  56 

  University  Sermons      .  56 

 Lyra  Apostolica     .       .  88 

Norris,  Man.  of  Rel.  Instruc.  70 

 Key  to  the  Four  Gospels  13 

 Acts  of  the  Apostles  13 

  R  udivien  ts  of  Theology  7 1 

  Lessons  for  Confirm.   .  73 

Ommanney,  The  Athanasian 

Creed   5 

Oxen  ham,  Eirenicon  .  .  45 
 Sermons ....  68 


Painted  Glass,  Study  of  . 
Parnell,  Ars  Pastoria  . 
Pascars    Thoughts,  Selection 

from  ..... 
Path  of  Holiness 
Pefys,  Morning  Notes  of  Praise 

 Quiet  Moments 

Perraud,  Last  Days  of  Pere 

Gratry  

Perreyve  {Henri)  Life  of . 
Phillimore  (Sir  R.),  Ecclesi- 
astical Judgments 

 (W.  G.  FA  and  Blunt, 

Book  of  Church  Law  . 
Philpotts,  Hillford  Confirm. 
Plumptre,  Words  of  the  Son 

of  God  

Pollock  ,  Out  of  the  Body 
Prayer  Book,  American  . 

 Annotated 

 Illuminated  . 

 Interleaved  . 


8a 


anti  at  ©atfori)  anb  Olambriiigc 


96  Rivington's  Select  Catalogue 


PAGB 

Prayer  Book,  Latin        .       .  2 

 of  Edward  VI.      .       .  2 

Prayers  and  Meditations        .  22 

Prayers  for  the  Sick  and  Dying  35 

Priest  to  the  Altar  ...  5 

Pro  by,  Ecclesiastes  .       .       .  16 

 Ten  Canticles        .       .  16 

Psalter   6 

Pusey,  On  the  Minor  Prophets  17 
 Daniel   .       .       .       .  17 


Quirinus,  Letters  front  Rome  49 


Randolph,  Notes  on  Obadiah  11 
Revival  of  Priestly  Life  .       .  79 
Ridley,  Bible  Readings  .       .  18 
Rivington  s  Devotional  Series  : — 
A  Kempis, Imitation  of  Christ  22,  92 
P>ickersteth,  Yesterday     .  88,  92 
De  Sales,  Devout  Life       .  29,  92 
Herbert,  Poems  and  Prov.  28,  92 
Wilson,  the  Lord's  Supper   28,  92 
Taylor,  Holy  Living  .      .  29,  92 

 Dying    .       .       .29,  92 

Chilcot,  Evil  Thoughts      .  30 
The  Christian  Year     .       .  25,  92 
The  Devotional  Birthday  Book  31 
Roberts,  Church  Memorials  .  82 
Rolleston,  Mazzaroth  .       .  90 
Romanoff,  Historical  Nar.  .  85 

  S.  John  Chrysos.  Liturgy  48 

  Greco-Russian  Church  .  85 

Rossetti,  A  Shadow  of  Dante  89 


Sales,  S.  Francis  de,  Life    .  79 

 Spiritual  Letters  .       .  27 

 Spirit    ....  30 

 Devout  Life  .       .    19,  29,  92 

  The  Love  of  God   .       .  19,  29 

Schoemann,  Antiquities  of  Greece  86 
Scudamore,  Notitia  Eucharist.  5 

  Words  to  take  with  us  .  22 

Scupoli,  Spiritual  Combat  .  19 
S elf-Renunciation  ...  24 
Sewell,  Microscope  of  the  New 

Testament  .  .  .  .  10 
Shipley,  Ascetic  Library  .  36 
Shuttleworth,  Sermons  .  68 
 Not  Tradition      .       .  68 


PAGE 

Sickness,  Consoling  Thoughts  .  32 

  its  Trials  and  Blessings  35 

I    SlNCLAiR(Archdeacon),  Thirty- 
two  Years  of  the  Church      .  49 
I   Skene,  Alexander  Lycurgus  .  85 
Skinner,  Guide  of  Life  .       .  35 
Smith,  English  Institutions  .  85 

 (H.),  Notes  oil  the  Acts  16 

Spiritual  Guidance  ...  24 

I   Star  of  Childhood    .       .  21 

:   Stone,  Poems  ....  89 

[   Stracey,  Sermons  on  the  Psalms  65 

j   Sunday  Evenings  in  the  Family  2  2 


Taylor,  Holy  Living     .       .  29,  92 

  Dying    .       .       .    29,  31,  92 

Testimony  of  the  Stars  .  .  90 
Treasury  of  Devotion  .  .  21 
Trelawny,  P erranzabuloe ,     .  84 

Vincent  de  Paul,  Life  of  S.  .  81 
Voices' of  Comfort     .       .       .  25 


Walton  Com.  Pray.  (7/1549  •  2 
Way  of  Life     ....  21 
Webster,  Syntax  and  Syno- 
nyms of  the  Greek  Testament  18 
Williams,  Devotional  Com. : — 

Study  of  the  Holy  Gospels  14 

Harmony  of  Four  Evan   .  14 

Our  Lord's  Nativity .       .  14 

Ministry  (2nd  Year  .       .  14 

  (yd  Year)     .       .  14 

The  Holy  Week  ...  14 

Our  Lord's  Passion   .       .  14 

 Resurrection  .       .  14 

j  Apocalypse    ...  15 

1                Book  of  Genesis    .       .  15 

j   Characters  of  Old  Test.  15 

I   Female  Characters       .  15 

!  Epistles  and  Gospels     .  52 


Wilson  (Bishop),  Lord's  Sup.    28,  92 


 (R.  F.).  S.  Vin.  de  Paul  81 

Wordsworth  (Bp.  Charles), 

Catechesis      ....  73 

 (Bp.  Chr.),  Commentary  8 

 Greek  Testament     .  8 

 Inspiration  of  the  Bible  18 

  Miscellanies  ...  46 

W ords  of  the  6  on  of  God  .  34 


Waterloo  place,  ilontion 


Princeton  Theological  Seminary  Libraries 


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